Lower Elements Police

The Lower Elements Police is a fictional law enforcement organization of the fairy People, who live in the Lower Elements (underground) in the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer.

The LEP is made up of several different units, as with all police forces. Overall, their job is to maintain order and to stop humans from getting word of their existence. They are also the closest thing the fairy People have to a dedicated military.

Ranks

The ranks of officers are, in order from lowest to highest:

• Private
• Corporal
• Lieutenant
• Captain
• Major
• Commander

There are also three regional commanders and a seven-member Council which is in charge of the entire LEP.

LEPrecon

The Lower Elements Police reconnaissance squad, better known as LEPrecon, is the celebrated stealth reconnaissance division of the Lower Elements Police (LEP). In the underground world of the fairies, most reconnaissance entails tracking down fairies who wander where they shouldn't, particularly away from the secret fairy civilization of Haven and onto the surface of the Earth.

The Reconnaissance and Retrieval Squads are the elite, 'SpecOps' division of the LEP.

Members of the squad are also called LEPrecons, or leprechauns, the name of which is a pun, and in the context of the books, this is where the term originated.

LEPretrieval

The Lower Elements Police retrieval team is better known as LEPretrieval. Retrieval's most elite unit is LEPretrieval One, led by decorated fairy, Major Trouble Kelp, who appeared in book one as a Captain. It was also mentioned that LEPRetrieval 's "number one" is Captain Vein. It is said that every young fairy's dream is to join LEPretrieval One and don the stealth black jumpsuit. Highly trained as they were, the fairies were easily "removed" by Butler on their first encounter. Retrieval has made many appearances throughout the series. Their job is to use information from LEPrecon, perform mind wipes to humans who may have seen a fairy, retrieve rogue fairies, retrieve/destroy trolls who have made their way to the surface and other various tasks.

LEPtraffic

The Lower Elements Police traffic team, better known as LEPtraffic, is the traffic-policing division of the LEP. They patrol the streets and overlook road construction. Traffc police are often referred to as "Wheelies" and are known to use magna-bikes and cruisers for transport. They wear a computerized suit which can display all common traffic signs as well as eight lines of text comparable to a walking traffic road sign. The suit is also coded to the wearer's voice ensuring that should the wearer ask a driver to do something, it would also be displayed as text across the wearer's chest. Every corporal who has signed up to the Lower Elements Police Academy must serve a period of time in LEPtraffic before being allowed to enter a specialized department, such as LEPrecon.

Section Eight

Section Eight in is a secret branch of the Lower Elements Police, similar to the role of the CIA or MI6. It is a covert intelligence-gathering division. Their foremost purpose is intelligence on the location, rehabilitation, and general welfare of all demons that materialize from Limbo. It is first introduced in the US military sense of the term Section 8 meaning crazy, as Holly in the first book says she's gone, "Section 8" risking her life for a human fighting a troll. By the time of Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony (where Section Eight is introduced), Wing Commander Vinyáya is the Council's chairwoman to Section Eight and its technical director position has just been filled by the centaur Foaly. Holly Short is recruited as a Captain into the organisation after leaving her own small private investigation firm. Vinyáya reveals the Section's original founder to be the late Council Chairman Nan Burdeh who left her enormous fortune to Section Eight after her death, allowing the organisation to purchase state of the art equipment and offer excellent overtime and medical insurance.

Telekinetic Division

Mentioned once in the first book, the Telekinetic Division was called to fix the wall of the restaurant that a troll severely damaged. Apparently the Division consists of fairies who are trained in more advanced magic (i.e. telekinesis) than the average LEP officer. They seem to be used mainly in quick repairs and construction.

Internal Affairs

Internal Affairs is a section of the LEP that deals with rogue LEP operatives. It is mentioned in Book 4 when it is believed that Holly Short is responsible for the murder of Julius Root. Ark Sool commanded this before getting promoted to LEPRecon Commander in Opal Deception after Root's death.