Marisol Valles: Mexico's newest police chief

Twenty-year-old criminology student, Marisol Valles, attends the press conference during her presentation as chief of police Photograph: Jesus Alcazar/AFP/Getty Images

Valles was sworn in to bring law and order to a township of 8,500 that has been transformed from a string of quiet farming communities into a lawless, no man's land Photograph: Reuters

The city hall building of the northern Mexican border town of Praxedis Guadalupe Guerrero, Chihuahua Photograph: Jesus Alcazar/AFP/Getty Images

Valles inspects the cells at the police station Photograph: Raymundo Ruiz/AP

Valles's only police experience before taking the role was a stint as a department secretary Photograph: Reuters

Her job covers a violent borderland where drug gangs have killed public officials and terrified many citizens into fleeing Photograph: Raymundo Ruiz/AP

Valles's predecessor was gunned down in July 2009 and the town had been unable to find a replacement for more than a year Photograph: Jesus Alcazar/EPA

Valles speaks to local high school students Photograph: Jesus Alcazar/AFP/Getty Images

Valles says she took the job because she loves the town where she has lived for 10 years, though she was born in Ciudad Juárez Photograph: Jesus Alcazar/EPA

Two rival gangs the Juárez and Sinaloa drug cartels have been battling for control of its single highway, a lucrative drug trafficking route along the Texas border Photograph: Raymundo Ruiz/AP

Soldiers at a checkpoint in the border town Photograph: Raymundo Ruiz/AP

Soldiers man a checkpoint Photograph: Raymundo Ruiz/AP

The nearby city of Ciudad Juárez where more than 2,000 people have died in drug-related attacks this year alone Photograph: Jesus Alcazar/AFP/Getty Images