Basic Trope: A woman character working in law enforcement goes undercover as a stripper, prostitute, or other occupation involving lewd acts or revealing outfits.
- Straight: Officer Alice goes undercover as a stripper, to get more information about an elusive crime boss.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice's undercover operation takes longer than expected, and in order to maintain her disguise, she ends up having to genuinely act the part, performing strip shows and lap dances for customers.
- Alice and her whole unit of women cops all go undercover as strippers at the same time.
- Alice goes undercover as a prostitute, and has sex with multiple clients to maintain her cover.
- Downplayed: Alice goes undercover as a fairly standard fashion model, with no lingerie or bikini shoots.
- Justified:
- This crime boss did something to hurt Alice's family, so she'll do whatever it takes to get back at him.
- Another one of the girls working at the club is already Alice's friend, and this gives Alice an opportunity to protect and watch over her.
- Alice is proud of her body and seriously considered stripping before getting into law enforcement, anyway; the unsavory elements of the industry don't bother her at all.
- Inverted: Alice is a stripper, pretending to be a police officer as part of a con to defraud the city.
- Gender-Inverted: Bob goes undercover as a male stripper.
- Subverted:
- Some of the bouncers at the club already know Alice is a police officer.
- Alice is very much lacking in the mannerisms or disposition of a stripper.
- Alice has a husband, who forbids her from doing this.
- Double Subverted:
- The bouncers aren't terribly loyal to the crime boss, and are bribed easily for their silence (along with some 'persuasion' from Alice while she's at the club).
- Alice learns from a stripper informant how to walk the walk and talk the talk.
- Alice's husband eventually decides it's not so bad.
- Parodied: When her chief tells her about the operation, he apologizes that the force is asking her to do this, as it's an occupation stereotypically reserved for women. He also warns her that a lot of women crack in an assignment like this, and she'll need all of her willpower to get through it. Lastly, he reminds her that this assignment may involve being occasionally covered in bodily fluids. Alice tells the chief she understands the risks, and that she's ready. A colleague drops her off at the place of her undercover assignment: a daycare center.
- Zig-Zagged: Alice adopts a number of undercover guises that are much tamer before settling on stripper, including taxi driver, civil clerk, and waitress at a restaurant where the crime boss frequents. Each of her former covers aren't quite close enough to the crime boss' actual business. Finally, the chief brings up the idea of working at the crime boss' strip club. Alice hems and haws, but eventually decides that she thinks she can give it a shot, if she starts small. Jump cut to her doing topless jumping jacks in front of a full club.
- Averted: Before the operation can be put into effect, the strip club is closed down for an invalid liquor license.
- Enforced: "We need more fanservice, but don't want to make Alice look like a slut. Let's have her run an undercover operation where she has to take off her clothes!"
- Lampshaded: "This is an incredibly risky operation for Alice, couldn't we have just used informants? Oh well, this assignment certainly has its perks. See, here comes Alice now, wearing only a thong. Nice color on her."
- Invoked: Alice reads about operations like these in old police procedurals, and asks her chief if she could give something like that a try.
- Exploited: The chief hates the crime boss as much as Alice does, but has also noticed that Alice is extremely attractive. When talk of an undercover operation begins happening, he nominates Alice for the assignment, with her blessing.
- Defied: The operation is brought up as an option to catch the crime boss. Alice's chief immediately dismisses it as too risky.
- Discussed: "Did you hear about Alice's new 'assignment'? We should check her out after work."
- Conversed: "They've got Alice as an undercover cop stripper, now." "Surprised it took them this long."
- Implied: Alice sits down at her desk at the station with a bag of "research" for her new assignment. One of her squadmates peers into the bag, and notices what looks like golden chain tassels and fishnet leggings. Alice catches him staring and moves the bag into an empty drawer.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice becomes addicted to stimulants, as a way of maintaining her energy during performances.
- The mayor hears about the operation, and decides to shut it down before it gets found out and reflects poorly on the city; he thinks it sounds like something out of a movie.
- Reconstructed:
- Alice joins a rehab program, and gets her addiction under control.
- Alice and a couple of her strip club friends visit the mayor at his office, clad in trenchcoats. They strut past the secretary and let themselves right into his office. As he hangs up the phone, the women open and drop their coats to reveal they are wearing nothing but thongs, and one of them closes the door. The police station receives a call from city hall later that day, that the operation is mysteriously back on.
- Played for Laughs:
- Alice's chief is discussing her operation with another sergeant, and how Alice's methods of information gathering are unorthodox, but effective. Jump cut to Alice giving an informant a topless lap dance, as he relays new information to her from between her breasts.
- At the end of Alice's operation, she tells the chief inside the club that she's decided to quit the force and become a stripper full-time. She gets to make her own hours, her tips are enormous, and the dancing keeps her in better shape than police work. She adds that she also finally feels like she's valued by citizens, as she turns towards a couple of patrons, strips off her top, and shimmies in place to get her tassels spinning for them. The patrons look on appreciatively, and one of them comments it's nice to see her give back to the community.
- During one of Alice's drug busts, she's coincidentally dressed up in stereotypical stripper-cop garb. She has a very difficult time convincing the drug dealers that she's actually a real police officer, especially while she's topless; they assume her gun and her handcuffs are all just props. Even as the dealers are being pushed into squad cars, they're still incredibly confused as to what just happened.
- Her squadmates are interrogating a ruthless criminal, who refuses to give up any information. Alice says she can crack him with some new skills from her new "assignment." Her squadmates gather at the interrogation room's tinted window, preparing for her to beat up the criminal. Instead, we see their reactions: their jaws drop as garments of Alice's clothing are flung forcefully against the window, amidst sounds of kissing, licking, and moaning. A few minutes later, Alice exits the room while buttoning up her top, and drops a full written confession in front of her squadmates. The criminal calls from inside, saying he wants to confess more crimes to buy more time.
- Alice gets called for a noise complaint, that a house party is being too loud. When she knocks on the door, the men who answer happen to be patrons from her strip club. To make matters worse, they called for a stripper to come to the party, and assume that it's Alice. To maintain her cover, Alice pretends as though she is the stripper, and we see her enter the house and strip off her top as the partiers cheer and the door closes behind her. Later, when her squadmates come to the same house since she hasn't been answering their calls, they find the door unlocked and enter. Inside, they discover that the partiers have all been pacified, as most of them are waiting quietly in line for the opportunity to lick dollops of whipped cream off of Alice's bare breasts, with the two partiers at the front of the line already engaged in the act. The squadmates report back that there's no need for backup, and then promptly get in line.
- Played for Drama:
- Alice begins to form a double life, with friends and connections on both sides of the law.
- Alice's undercover assignment troubles her husband deeply, as he is bothered by the idea that other men get to see her in states of undress.
- Despite the difficulty of the operation, many of Alice's fellow officers resent her for doing what they perceive as "easy work," while paperwork piles up at the station.
When you're ready to go back undercover, head back to Dirty Harriet.
