A British policeman put his colleagues on alert as he investigated a “suspicious bright light” — only to find it was the moon, an in-house magazine for the police reported Wednesday.

Police magazine reported that the hapless officer only realised his blunder after warning his fellow constables in Worcestershire, central England, that he might require back-up.

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The magazine’s Dogberry column revealed: “While single-crewed on night duty in Worcestershire a PC called up his sergeant letting him know that he was going up into the Clent Hills to investigate a ‘suspicious bright light’ that he could see shining from the other side of the hills.

“The call was for safety reasons as he might need back-up once he found the source.

“Twenty minutes later the PC called his sergeant back to reassure him that everything was ok and that he had found the source of the light.

“This diligent PC had in fact discovered the moon.”

While the gaffe was once known only to the unnamed policeman’s colleagues in the Worcestershire force, it has now been revealed to all 132,000 police rank-and-file officers in England and Wales who receive the magazine.