Sex and thugs and the taxpayer's money

Well at least they're not chasing down harmless pot smokers.

TAMPA - (AP) -- Hillsborough County vice officers spent $6,400 for 92 lap dances, drinks and tips in an investigation into nudity and liquor law violations at an adult bikini bar that spanned more than two years, county records show.

''Sometimes that's what it takes to get rid of the problems -- a lot of attention,'' Hillsborough Sheriff David Gee said of the investigation into Lil Tootsie's nightclub.

Yeah, you gotta give those guys some credit for taking their job so seriously. Gotta keep the world safe from dangerous nudity right? And apparently only the ones that weren't very good lap dancing got arrested. Guess they wanted to help with quality control.

Hillsborough bikini bars can serve alcohol as long as they don't allow nudity. Sheriff's detectives sought 41 misdemeanor nudity charges against 15 dancers at the club, but were unable to identify another 34 dancers, records show. Detectives bought seven lap dances from ''Cherry'' but never identified her, records show.

Two years of investigating and they could only identify 15 out of 50 dancers? And what do you bet every single detective worked on that case? With Tampa's violent crime rate, you might think they would have more important cases to solve.

[hat tip Paul Wright]