In what is certainly one of the most surprising news stories of the week – the Osaka Prefectural Police has revealed that it will be using imagery from Capcom’s Street Fighter to recruit officers into its police force.

3000 flyers and 1000 posters will be distributed in and around police stations and train stations in Japan starting on July 2.

Capcom has been working with Japanese police on “crime prevention awareness campaigns” for a while now, but this is the first time Street Fighter characters have been approved for use in tandem. From the main image available, it looks like the poster will feature Ryu and Chun-Li facing off ready for a fight.

But realistically, the OPP aren’t recruiting for any bandana-toting bruisers. They’re actually looking for cyber-crime investigators.

This is an emerging global problem and one good way to pick out people who would be viable for the job is by using video game characters, apparently! This is due to the game’s synonymous links to the esports scene.

The iconic Street Fighter series is now over 30 years old, has sold 42 million units as of March 2019 and is a cultural touchstone for fighting games, so it makes sense that the police force would want to use it for promotional materials. The latest game in the series, Street Fighter V, recently received an Arcade Edition update in 2018 for PlayStation 4 and PC.

Hopefully it works out, and the adverts snare some top cyber-crime agents ready to defend the world with their keyboards, not their knuckles. To be fair, they could have used Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil 2 and it’d be a bit of an easier sell – but then again, perhaps his experience as a rookie cop isn’t so alluring to potential officers…