# Illinois UFO witnessed by police **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 15, 2000, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-ufo-witnessed-by-police/17326 "2000-01-15T01:17:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2000, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-ufo-witnessed-by-police/17326/61 "2000-01-27T15:36:00Z")
KO said: > [@](#): > > I was thinking that maybe the REALL organization, being as how they are a hotshot bunch of skeptics would at least investigate an prominent UFO sighting that happened in their own backyard And how would you like us to investigate it? It happened and the people said what they saw. What they saw was not terribly descriptive. It’s a UFO – an _unidentified_ flying object. They didn’t make claims about having been beamed into it by aliens. They saw something in the sky. Whoopdedoo. Will we mention it in the newsletter? Yeah, probably. Is there enough evidence to support a conclusion? No. Does that mean it’s an alien spacecraft? No. > [@](#): > > especially one with witnesses the caliber of police officers who are trained and skilled observers Really? They have training classes for small-town cops that identify things they might see in the sky? Hmmm… > [@](#): > > but hey, maybe the fight against magnets and herbs are eating up all the time and expense of the REALL organization right now for all I know… For all you know? Hmmm. Nope, too easy. * * * Ignorance is Bliss. Reality is Better. ---
**Author:** ![Krispy\_Original](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2000, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-ufo-witnessed-by-police/17326/62 "2000-01-28T06:04:00Z")
David, The article says that the object was witnessed by 4 Metro East police officers…so I’m thinking that we are talking St. Louis here…small town?..where I live police officers attend a police academy as well as participate in on-going training. Your potshot was weak. What to investigate? Interviews with all the witnesses, as well as officials at the nearest military base, the nearest air traffic control tower, etc. Maybe try to get the witnesses to draw a picture of what they saw…sheesh, do I really need to tell a distinguised investigator like you how to do an investigation? 😃 * * * Krispy Original – The original SDMB bad boy ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2000, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-ufo-witnessed-by-police/17326/63 "2000-01-28T06:22:00Z")
KO said: > [@](#): > > The article says that the object was witnessed by 4 Metro East police officers…so I’m thinking that we are talking St. Louis here…small town? As usual, you would do well to get some facts before making assumptions. The Metro-East area is _not_ part of St. Louis, but is _East_ of St. Louis, in Illinois. I’m not sure of all the towns where the cops saw something, but Millstadt, for example (which is the one that has the report on its web page) has a whopping population of 2566 people (according to the latest Illinois highway map). That’s the one I was particularly thinking about when I typed my message. And, no, they don’t have to go to the police academy in many small towns. Some do, but I know of others who didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Krispy\_Original](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2000, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-ufo-witnessed-by-police/17326/64 "2000-01-28T06:37:00Z")
So in other words, my assumption is no more or less valid than yours is. Hey, how about those investigative techniques…did I enlighten you? * * * Krispy Original – The original SDMB bad boy ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2000, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-ufo-witnessed-by-police/17326/65 "2000-01-28T06:41:00Z")
No, you assumed the Metro-East area was in St. Louis. It is not. Therefore your assumption is completely invalid. As to your “investigative techniques,” the articles I’ve seen have already done it. The tower didn’t have anything to say; the air base didn’t have anything to say; the cops have already said it. You want me to harass them, or maybe use sodium pentathol? ---
**Author:** ![Krispy\_Original](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2000, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-ufo-witnessed-by-police/17326/66 "2000-01-28T06:58:00Z")
> [@](#): > > And, no, they don’t have to go to the police academy in many small towns. Some do, but I know of others who didn’t. ## I guess that went over your head…my assumption that the officers were trained observers is just as valid as your assumption that they aren’t…get it this time? Krispy Original – The original SDMB bad boy ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2000, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-ufo-witnessed-by-police/17326/67 "2000-01-27T19:06:00Z")
Reaching for anything, eh? I never assumed they got no police academy training – though they might not have. I just asked, “They have training classes for small-town cops that identify things they might see in the sky?” So, do they? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2000, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-ufo-witnessed-by-police/17326/68 "2000-01-27T22:01:00Z")
tracer: > [@](#): > > Several thousand? The only way you could arrive at that high a number is to . . . (yadda yadda yadda) Look, tracer, there’s not going to be much point to my exerting myself to answer you if you consistently revert to the usual tactic of responding to what you _wish_ I had said, because it fits so much better with what you want to say in response. I ‘could arrive’ at the number by the same rational process you could arrive at it by, if you were motivated to make a disinterested survey of the available evidence. > [@](#): > > Depends on what you mean by “bona fide”. Actually, it depends on what _you_ mean by _bona fide_, since I was referring to your standard of proof, Winkerbean. ---
**Author:** ![Krispy\_Original](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2000, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-ufo-witnessed-by-police/17326/69 "2000-01-27T22:26:00Z")
> [@](#): > > “They have training classes for small-town cops that identify things they might see in the sky?” So, do they? Now who’s reaching for anything? Looks like you are. My original statement was that they were trained observers. You admit that they might have had police academy training which, among other things, trains them in the tecniques of observation. The “objects in the sky” thing is your strawman. * * * Krispy Original – The original SDMB bad boy ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2000, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-ufo-witnessed-by-police/17326/70 "2000-01-27T22:40:00Z")
KO, if I dismiss this report as a sighting of a stealth blimp, it does not mean that I dismiss ALL sightings as terrestrial aircraft out on a test flight, just THIS PARTICULAR ONE. I’m like the late Carl Sagan: I think it’s very likely there is extra-terrestrial life, because the universe is so vast. BUT: Because the universe is so vast, I can’t even begin to fathom how an ET could get here. Photographic evidence is NOT proof, especially in this day when nearly any mook with a PC can doctor images. Eye-witness evidence is also not proof because, like it or not, people don’t always see what they think they do, and that includes me and it includes you. I hesitate to bring this up because I remember it so vaguely, but a law school professor once staged a robbery in his class and then asked his students to write down what they remembered of the “robber”. There was not 100% agreement on even such basic details as to whether or not he was wearing a hat or the color of his skin, hair and eyes. Maybe **David** can tell us where to read about this, because I don’t know where to look. So, yeah, I would like it to be true that there are aliens out there, but it would take hard evidence for me to accept it as fact. * * * \>\< DARWIN \> \_\_ **L\_\_\_L** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-ufo-witnessed-by-police/17326.md?page=3)