An all-female urban administrative patrol squad has been formed to keep the peace during the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China this September.
All 21 young women will be fiercely dressed in berets, aviator sunglasses and black uniforms to enforce the law wherever it need be.
Their main duty, aside from fashionably greeting visitors, is to dissuade tourists from behaving in an “uncivilized manner” by preventing them from smoking, spitting, standing in dangerous places, riding bicycles too fast and keeping people from trampling the grass.
According to China News Service (via SCMP), the newly trained officers are university graduates with an average age of 24. They were first formed to keep the peace around Hangzhou’s West Lake, the city’s most popular tourist destination. The women were also chosen to improve the image of China’s notorious chengguan, or urban management, who employ intimidating and sometimes violent means to enforce the law.
Patrol leader Zheng Qunfang told CNS:
“Compared with the men, the women officers can use a less confrontational approach to handling badly-behaving tourists.”
Zhao Dan, the patrol team leader, also added:
“We hope to promote an image of ‘civilised enforcement’ to tourists around the nation.”
