SpecOps

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

SpecOps is a fictional overarching British governmental force in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series of novels. It was established in 1972 to handle policing duties "too unusual or too specialized" to be handled by the regular police. The force and divisions are similar in name (for example SO27) to the real world Specialist Operations of the Metropolitan Police Service.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

[edit] Known SpecOps divisions

  • SpecOps 1: The division that polices SpecOps itself.
  • SpecOps 2: Weirder Shit.
  • SpecOps 3: Weird Shit.
  • SpecOps 5: Search & Containment. SpecOps 5 is given a man to track until "found and contained" (a euphemism for killed), then is posted with another target. SpecOps 4 is "pretty much the same" but after a different target. SpecOps 5's assignments have included Acheron Hades and his sister Aornis.
  • SpecOps 6: National Security, the department responsible for protecting the president and prime minister. It has also been responsible for protecting Mycroft Next.
  • SpecOps 9: Antiterrorism.
  • SpecOps 12: The ChronoGuard, or the Office for Special Temporal Stability. Responsible for policing the timestream, dealing with Anomalous Time Ripplation and repairing paradoxes and timephoons.
  • SpecOps 13: Genetic detectives, responsible for the destruction of chimeras and the regulation of genetic engineered pets, including those formerly extinct. SpecOps 13 is also responsible for Neanderthal affairs.
  • SpecOps 14: Tactical support, known for its sharpshooters and trigger-happiness.
  • SpecOps 15: Drug Enforcement Agency.
  • SpecOps 17: Suckers & Biters, the Vampire and Werewolf Disposal Operation. Despite a three-point confirmation procedure, every so often one of its operatives stakes a goth by mistake. SpecOps 17 also deals with Supremely Evil Beings, thousands of which are contained and placed in plain glass jars at the Loathsome Id Containment Facility.
  • SpecOps 21: Transport Authority.
  • SpecOps 22: English Aviation Authority.
  • SpecOps 23: Food and Drugs administration.
  • SpecOps 24: Art crime.
  • SpecOps 25: Industrial Safeguards.
  • SpecOps 26: Pasta Police.
  • SpecOps 27: The Literary Detectives, the agency responsible for dealing with forged or stolen manuscripts and works of literature.
  • SpecOps 28: Inland Revenue Services, including assessing income taxes.
  • SpecOps 29: The Shakespeare division, granted its own wing of SpecOps rather than falling under the purview of SO-27.
  • SpecOps 30: Neighbourly Disputes. (Note: on Jasper Fforde's official SpecOps website, SO-30 is given as the Public Services Enforcement Authority.)
  • SpecOps 31: Good Taste Re-education Authority.
  • SpecOps 32: Horticultural Enforcement Agency.
  • SpecOps 33: Entertaiments Facilitation Department.
  • SpecOps 34: GlobalWebPolice.

[edit] Known SpecOps Operatives

[edit] SpecOps 1

  • Colonel Flanker

[edit] SpecOps 3

[edit] SpecOps 5

  • Fillip Tamworth
  • Filbert Snood
  • Agent Buckett
  • Thursday Next
  • Agents Kannon and Phodder, Agents Dedmen and Walken, and Agents Slaughter and Lamb.

[edit] SpecOps 9

  • Agent Buckett

[edit] SpecOps 12

[edit] SpecOps 13

  • Mr. Stiggins (Neanderthal, head of department)

[edit] SpecOps 17

[edit] SpecOps 27

[edit] SpecOps 28

  • Agent Lamb

[edit] References



Novels by Jasper Fforde
Thursday Next series
The Eyre Affair | Lost in a Good Book | The Well of Lost Plots | Something Rotten | First Among Sequels (due July 2007)
Jack Spratt series
The Big Over Easy | The Fourth Bear | The Last Great Tortoise Race (due 2007)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/p/e/SpecOps_4b6f.html"