SpecOps is a fictional overarching British governmental force inJasper Fforde'sThursday Next series of novels. It was established in 1928 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 worldSpecialist Operations of theMetropolitan Police Service. When introduced in The Eyre Affair, the divisions are described as "Below the Eight, Above the Law".
SpecOps 1: The division that polices SpecOps itself.
SpecOps 2: Weirder Stuff (aliens according to an unpublished chapter of The Eyre Affair), may be Thought Police.[1]
SpecOps 3: Office for Alternate Universe Travel (as opposed to time travel) a.k.a. Weird StuffThe Eyre Affair.
SpecOps 4: SpecOps 4 is "pretty much the same" as SpecOps 5, but after a different target.
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 5's assignments have includedAcheron Hades and his sisterAornis.
SpecOps 6: National Security, the department responsible for protecting thepresident andprime minister. It has also been responsible for protectingMycroft Next, presumably from the Russians, as he is a scientific genius.
SpecOps 9: Antiterrorism.
SpecOps 12: TheChronoGuard, 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 forNeanderthal affairs.
SpecOps 14: Tactical Support, known for its sharpshooters and trigger-happiness.
SpecOps 15: Drug Enforcement Agency.
SpecOps 17: Suckers & Biters, theVampire andWerewolf Disposal Operation. Despite a three-point confirmation procedure, every so often one of its operatives stakes agoth 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; and ghosts, zombies, demons, and other supernatural beings.
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 officialSpecOps website, SO-30 is given as the Public Services Enforcement Authority.)
SpecOps 31: Good Taste Re-education Authority. InFirst Among Sequels it is the Cheese Enforcement Agency.
Filbert Snood (expired). When introduced early in The Eyre Affair, he is the only man thatThursday Next had an interest in after she had left Landen 10 years earlier.
