Nexus - 0603 - New Times Magazine-pages

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THE TWILIGHT ZONE BRITISH POLICE OFFICERS CONFESS TO UFO ENCOUNTERS OF THEIR OWN lights and a cylindrical object in the sky. * An officer saw a disc-shaped object hovering 20 feet above the road. «In the 1970s, a police officer on duty saw a wedge-shaped object in the sky that was about four storeys high and 50 feet long. * Declassified MoD papers from the 1950s to 1970s cover incidents at military bases and investigations by police officers into reported sightings. The files name the police officers involved, and allegedly include accounts of helicopters being sent after UFOs. There have also been several reports— one as recently as last month—from offi- cers in Sussex, an area which is considered a fruitful zone for UFO sightings. While the majority of the police officers who have been in contact are retired, some are still serving and one of them is an Inspector. Ms Bott commented: "In a court of law, the person who is most believed is usually a policeman. Also, these people are out day and night, observing things around them, so they are excellent witnesses. "A UFO is simply an unidentified flying object; it's not little green men. Many offi- cers do not want to talk about it openly while they are still serving, because they can kiss their promotion chances good- bye." So far, she has been in touch with about 20 serving and former officers. Only a couple of weeks ago, she was contacted by two serving officers claiming to have seen UFOs in the past month. Nick Redfern, author of several books on UFOs, is assisting Ms Bott with her pro- ject. He added: "These people are willing to fly in the face of potential ridicule, which shows how strongly they feel about what they have witnessed. These are strong, credible witnesses." One of those to come forward was for- mer PC John Hanson, 52, who retired from the West Midlands police force in 1994 after 27 years of service. His encounter with a UFO took place on the evening of 14 June 1995. Mr Hanson was at his home near Redditch, Worcestershire, when he looked out of his bedroom window. "I saw a silver, pear-shaped ball of light hovering over a tree," he recalled. "It was about 40 feet off the ground, and about 20 feet long and five feet wide. Immediately opposite was a red, cigar-shaped object, about 30 feet tall. "The pear ball suddenly moved and there was a piece cut out of it like a wedge of cheese. It then changed into the shape of a jelly bean and jumped onto the cigar- shaped object. The two objects then fused together, produced a rippling light and were gone." He said the whole episode lasted about five minutes and took place around 10.35 pm. He noted that a similar sighting had taken place 20 miles away on the same night. "Tam not talking about flying saucers or spacemen, but an unidentified object— some form of energy source," he added. (Source: by Jason Bennetto, The Sunday Independent, London, 23 January 1999) number of retired and serving Av" officers are risking ridicule by coming forward to tell all about their alleged encounters with UFOs. More than 20 officers have responded to an advertisement in Police Review, inviting them to recount their close encounters of the third kind. Their reports include stories of alien abduction and gigantic blocks of light hov- ering above their squad cars. At least two former officers claim to have photographic evidence of their meetings with extraterres- trials. Their extraordinary stories have been collected for a new book, Policing the UFO, which includes interviews with at least 20 former and serving officers and as many as 200 recorded incidents from around the world involving police. Many of the examples from the second category are taken from previously unreleased Ministry of Defence papers. The book's author, Irene Bott, has cho- sen to concentrate on police officers because of their relative position of trust in society. "They are less likely to be written off as cranks, loonies or anoraks," she explained. Others, however, may think they are boldly going beyond the call of duty and risking ridicule and professional suicide. For this reason, many officers appear to have waited until they left the police ser- vice before speaking out, although others who contacted the researchers feel so strongly about what they have witnessed that they are prepared to be named. These are some of the encounters includ- ed in the book: + An officer claims to have been abduct- ed and medically examined by aliens in the 1980s. The former officer, who has yet to give the full details of his case, is said to have been out driving when he experienced disturbances to his vehicle, followed by memory loss. Later, via hypnosis, he recalled being taken aboard a spacecraft and examined by aliens. + A police officer says he took five pho- tographs of a UFO while he was on duty in the West Midlands in the 1980s, but the MoD confiscated them. « A policeman and policewoman were out on patrol in the countryside and saw Frnenes Yoon 0 ( CLIENT, We cauGHT : DS « é Sen 2LL, co APRIL — MAY 1999 NEXUS - 71