CBC News

There's a new police chief in the violent borderland of Praxedis G. Guerrero, Mexico, where drug gangs have killed public officials and terrified many citizens: a 20-year-old woman who hasn't yet finished her criminology degree.

Marisol Valles Garcia was sworn in Wednesday to bring law and order to a township of about 8,500 that has been transformed from a string of quiet farming communities into a lawless area. Her predecessor was gunned down in July 2009 and the town had been unable to find a replacement for more than a year.

The tiny but energetic Valles Garcia, whose only police experience was a stint as a department secretary, says she wants her 13 officers to practise a special brand of community policing. She plans to hire more women -- she currently has three -- and assign each to a neighbourhood to talk with families, promote civic values and detect potential crime.

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