Police are often the first point of contact for members of the public wishing to report unusual phenomena such as UFO sightings. Doug Moffett, State Director of the Australian UFO Research Network, said his organisation runs a freecall hotline specifically for those who wish to report UFOs or UAPs (unusual aerial phenomena).

"Our role is to identify the object as terrestrial, if indeed it is, and to collate information on genuine unknowns.
There have been occasions where members of the public have become upset by something as simple as Venus. It is clear that police do not have the manpower or resources to investigate such reports."