FOI 568-2025 / May 2025 / UFO
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 568-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 27th May 2025 as follows:
Since January 1 2024, please disclose the logs for every incident involving unidentified flying object/unidentified aerial phenomena recorded by your force.
Also please disclose the logs that feature at least one of these search terms: 'UFO', 'Alien', 'UAP' and 'spaceship'
For each incident log, please disclose:
* The date and time the incident was reported.
* The general location it was recorded (I.E. the city/town/village)
* The incident log, exactly as it was recorded by the force, redacting any identifiable information which may otherwise prohibit disclosure. For example 'Female caller named (REDACTED) reports seeing eight flashing lights hovering above his property in (REDACTED) street before a female was beamed into the sky'.'
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that there is no identifier within the Command & Control System to identify reports of UFO sightings. Further, such sightings would not necessarily be recorded as there is no crime/incident occurring and callers may be directed to other channels such as the Civil Aviation Authority. In order to attempt to determine the number of times such a report has been recorded it would be necessary to review each and every incident log, recorded during the stated period, on an individual basis. This would equate to tens of thousands of logs which would take an inordinate amount of time to review and greatly exceed the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
In accordance with s12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this request.
However, as a gesture of goodwill and in keeping with the duty to provide advice and assistance under Section 16 of the Act, the business area conducted a search of the Command & Control System for where any of the following keywords are present within the free text of incident logs:
- UFO / UFOs
- UAP
- Alien
- Extra-terrestrial
- Lights in sky
- Spaceship
Based on the above search there were no records located relevant to your request.
However, it is important to note that if there are relevant incidents which have been logged, but where the keyword/s is not present within free text, then these will not have been returned within the search. For this reason information retrieved by way of a keyword search cannot be assumed to be entirely accurate and should be treated with caution.
I have also attached a link to a response to a request we received for similar information, covering the time period 1st January 2008 to 12th December 2024, which you may find of interest:
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB