THERE ARE TWO MAJOR TYPES OF FINGERPRINT FILES: 10-FINGER AND SINGLE-FINGER. POLICE KEEP BOTH TYPES, BUT THE FORMER IS FAR MORE COMPREHENSIVE THAN THE LATTER, WHICH IS MAINTAINED ONLY FOR RECIDIVISTS AND OTHER OFFENDERS LIKELY TO COMMIT FUTURE CRIMES. SINGLE-PRINT FILES CONTAIN MORE DETAILED INFORMATION, ARE MORE EXPENSIVE, AND ARE THE FILES USED IN LATENT PRINT IDENTIFICATION. THE MOST COMMON USE OF 10-FINGER FILES IS TO ESTABLISH THE IDENTITY OF PERSONS IN POLICE CUSTODY IN THE TIME PERMITTED BY HABEAS CORPUS LAWS. THE TASKS OF FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION INCLUDES THREE SUBSYSTEMS OF TASKS: FEATURE EXTRACTION (IDENTIFYING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRINT); CLASSIFICATION (CODING THE IDENTIFIED CHARACTERISTICS SO THAT OTHER PRINTS WITH SIMILAR CHARACTERISTICS FALL INTO THE SAME CLASS); AND MATCHING (COMPARING THE PRINT TO BE IDENTIFIED WITH ALL PRINTS IN THE SAME CLASS UNTIL A MATCHING PRINT IS FOUND OR IT IS ESTABLISHED THAT THE FILE CONTAINS NO MATCH). APPROACHES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF FULLY AUTOMATED AND MAN-MACHINE FEATURE EXTRACTION SUBSYSTEMS ARE DISCUSSED. THE TWO MOST COMMONLY USED MANUAL CLASSIFICATION METHODS -- THE HENRY 10-FINGER SYSTEM AND THE BATTLEY SINGLE-FINGER SYSTEM -- ARE DESCRIBED, AS IS AN AUTOMATED CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM. POSSIBLE DIRECTIONS FOR RESEARCH INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATED MATCHING SYSTEMS, INCLUDING THE USE OF HOLOGRAPHY, ARE MENTIONED. IT IS NOTED THAT, ALTHOUGH A NUMBER OF PROBLEMS REMAIN TO BE SOLVED BEFORE A FULLY AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM IS POSSIBLE, A SMALL DEGREE OF AUTOMATION ALREADY HAS BEEN INTRODUCED INTO 10-FINGER SYSTEMS AT THE FILE-SEARCHING LEVEL, WHERE A COMPUTER IS USED TO INCREASE THE 'THROUGHPUT' OF THE FINGERPRINT EXPERT BY ENSURING THAT THE EXPERT NEED INSPECT ONLY A SMALL NUMBER OF PRINTS. THE SYSTEM ACCOMPLISHES THIS BY PRESENTING PRINTS TO THE EXPERT IN THE ORDER OF THEIR DEGREE OF SIMILARITY TO THE QUESTIONED PRINT. SUCH AUTOMATION APPEARS TO BE COST EFFECTIVE. ILLUSTRATIONS ARE INCLUDED. (LKM)