DEPRAC

## Organization information

### Official name

Department of Psychical Research and Control

## Personnel

### Notable members

* Montagu Barnes (inspector)
* Ernest Dobbs
* Sergeant Wade

**DEPRAC**, short for the **Department of Psychical Research and Control**, is a government organization devoted to tackling The Problem, while monitoring most of the activities of agencies. They deal with monitoring and controlling agency actions as well as controlling safety measures for the people of the UK.

## Mission

The principal actor of the governmental approach towards ghosts and psychic appearances, DEPRAC is presumably one of the most powerful authorities in the country. However, it is hinted by Quill Kipps that it often not DEPRAC controlling the agencies but actually the other way around, especially with regard to the larger agencies such as Fittes or Rotwell.

Regardless of how true this statement is, DEPRAC, Fittes and Rotwell cooperate extremely closely. Smaller agencies however, especially when they are run - as is the case with Lockwood & Co. - entirely by minors without adult supervisors are treated with suspicion (at least by Inspector Barnes).

While the agencies, once they have received their licence, usually work independently and without prior consultation with DEPRAC, larger cases or clusters of psychic appearances, such as the Chelsea outbreak in The Hollow Boy, are coordinated by DEPRAC. It is implied that in these situations DEPRAC tasks the agencies of its choice (usually Fittes or Rotwell) with tackling the case under the close supervision of DEPRAC. Furthermore, the organization is also responsible for announcing public tenders in cases that do not touch private individuals or businesses and for which all agencies can apply.

Also among the duties of DEPRAC was the investigation and containment of relics, ghost sources sold on the black market by relic-men. Any that fell into their hands were typically disposed of and they also had the power to arrest and imprison those involved in such activities.

Following the case of the Creeping Shadow and the demise of the Rotwell Agency, the Rotwell Agency was brought under the direct control of the Fittes Agency. With her newfound control of vast majority of London's psychical investigation agents, Penelope Fittes began exerting even greater control over DEPRAC, such that it was essentially an extension of her agency. Although investigators such as Barnes tried to maintain some independent control, they were highly limited in what they were able to do.

## Known members

* Inspector Montagu Barnes
* Sergeant Wade (TV series)
* Cutter (undercover officer)

## Behind the scenes

* "DEPRAC" was pronounced as **"dep-rack"** in the first two audiobooks, performed by Miranda Raison and Katie Lyons respectively; whereas it was pronounced as **"dee-preck"** in the third and fourth audiobook, both performed by Emily Bevan.
* DEPRAC seems as though it may be more powerful in the Netflix television series than in the original novels. Inspector Montagu Barnes is shown directing Anthony Lockwood to fire Lucy Carlyle for not possessing a fourth grade certificate, something not seen in the novels. Furthermore, two new characters: Sergeant Wade and an unnamed deputy commissioner are seen.

## References

1. ↑ *The Screaming Staircase*, Glossary
2. ↑ Lockwood & Co.: *The Hollow Boy*, V: Dark Hearts, Ch. 19: "'*...it's because right now Barnes isn't his own man. He's got high-up people from Fittes and Rotwell who are advising him, and* they *keep telling him the center of the cluster's in the heart of Chelsea. He's got to do what he's told. There's no mystery about it. That's how DEPRAC works.' I frowned at him. 'DEPRAC monitors the agencies. Not the other way around.' Kipp's thin face quivered with amusement. "Do you think so? You're so adorable, Carlyle.*'"