Roswell New Mexico Police Lean into UFO Image

A little more than 200 miles from El Paso, Roswell is…an interesting little town. Even WITHOUT all the UFO stuff.

First of all, it’s not a small town. With a population of right around 50,000 Roswell is in that “really big town but not quite a city” range.  It’s 200 miles from any large city (Albuquerque and El Paso) so it’s sort of isolated. The kind of town where you may not KNOW everybody but you probably at least recognize most people.

Also, a flying saucer allegedly crashed there in 1947.  Actually, the purported crash site is 75 miles away but that hasn’t stopped Roswell, New Mexico from making it a central part of their identity.

You see alien inflatables at car dealerships, most businesses have some kind of alien artwork or signage and there are multiple UFO museums in town. The Roswell McDonald’s is the only UFO-themed McDonalds in the world.

Now, the Roswell police department is getting with the theme.  Roswell cops will now be wearing a patch on their uniforms that embraces the UFO theme.

Unveiled on Friday, the patches feature the Roswell city logo, a capital “R” stylized to look like a UFO with a beam of light shooting down to the ground.

Encircling the logo are the words,

“Protect and Serve Those Who Land Here”

with two alien faces on either side.  Roswell Police Chief Lance Bateman says the initial batch of 500 patches were handed out last week and will be a part of all police uniforms by the end of the year.

Here’s what the Roswell police UFO patch looks like.

I can’t help but notice the color scheme for the patch is green. I’m not sure if that’s because the aliens are green or because of the abundance of cannabis dispensaries in and around Roswell. At least I’m sure the dispensaries are real.

KEEP READING: Get answers to 51 of the most frequently asked weather questions…