Beautiful Women in Uniform: A Mexican State's Tourism Solution

CNN reports that the secretariat posted a job ad earlier this week looking for women between 18- and 26-years-old, and at least 5 feet five inches tall whose "weight is proportional to that height" and are eager to become tourist police.

Ramon Almonte Borja, who runs the police force in the tourist-friendly Pacific coast state, said his goal is to "have a police force comprised of only women, preferably beautiful ones." As if that wasn't enough, he added that "we are designing a gorgeous uniform that can distinguish us ... so that Acapulco can have an additional visual attraction."

One gets the sense that the new uniform will save the force some pesos that would have gone to buying fabric.

There is some precedent here: Australia's Gold Coast, a popular surf site, hired a bunch of beauties to wear gold lame bikinis and feed coins into parking meters that had controversially been installed on the city's main street in the '60s. The tradition has continued and the young women serve as tourist ambassadors when they aren't posing for the camera.

The Australian vixens are not, it should be noted, legally empowered to arrest anyone.

Not too surprisingly, some women are a little miffed about Borja's plan. The director of one women's rights group told CNN she thought the planned used women as decorations.

Many Mexican destinations are looking for ways to attract more visitors as tourist traffic to the country decreases. Unfortunately for the state of Guerrero, the "Hot Cop" solution may not work given that the cause of flagging tourist interest is rising drug-related violence, meaning - for now at least - a swat team would be more attractive than a bathing suit competition.