By Chris Lundy and Bob Vosseller
JERSEY SHORE – Federal agencies have said that there is no cause for concern with the abundance of recent drone sightings, but local officials aren’t so sure.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Defense issued a joint statement on December 17 about the drones:
“There are more than one million drones lawfully registered with the FAA in the United States and there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones lawfully in the sky on any given day. With the technology landscape evolving, we expect that number to increase over time.
“FBI has received tips of more than 5,000 reported drone sightings in the last few weeks with approximately 100 leads generated, and the federal government is supporting state and local officials in investigating these reports. Consistent with each of our unique missions and authorities, we are quickly working to prioritize and follow these leads. We have sent advanced detection technology to the region. And we have sent trained visual observers.
“Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones. We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast.
“That said, we recognize the concern among many communities. We continue to support state and local authorities with advanced detection technology and support of law enforcement. We urge Congress to enact counter-UAS (unmanned aircraft system) legislation when it reconvenes that would extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities to identify and mitigate any threat that may emerge.
“Additionally, there have been a limited number of visual sightings of drones over military facilities in New Jersey and elsewhere, including within restricted air space. Such sightings near or over DoD installations are not new. DoD takes unauthorized access over its airspace seriously and coordinates closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities, as appropriate. Local commanders are actively engaged to ensure there are appropriate detection and mitigation measures in place.”
Local officials have not appreciated the lack of urgency that the federal government appears to have. They continue to ask what the drones are and where they are coming from.
Berkeley Mayor John Bacchione described a meeting that took place on December 11, when mayors from around the state gathered at the New Jersey State Police Regional Operations Intelligence Center for a briefing.
“They told us absolutely nothing” about who is guiding the drones and what they are doing, he said.
A few bits of information gleaned from it was that the drones have been in the air up to six hours and some of them are the size of school buses.
They were told there’s no risk to civilian life or property, he said.
Days later, Bacchione, Township Business Administrator Scott Tirella, and Councilman Douglas Bowens were on a call with the Office of the President. The Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies had representatives on the line but nobody provided any information that could be taken back to residents.
“Nobody representing any of these agencies gave us any important information to take to our citizens so they won’t worry, but they did tell us there’s no need to worry,” he said.
Federal officials told them not to take matters into their own hands, he said.
“It’s very disturbing that these high end agencies like the FBI don’t know what’s going on,” the mayor said.
In neighboring Manchester, Mayor Robert Arace, Council President Roxy Conniff and Councilman Joseph Hankins discussed drones during the most recent Township Council meeting.
Mayor Arace said he attended a New Jersey Police Briefing concerning the drone sighting matter. “I also attended the White House briefing (phone conference). The state is taking it very seriously. Our State Senator Carmen Amato and Assemblymen (Brian) Rumpf and (Greg) Myhre are taking this seriously and have interfaced with the governor’s office and have written letters to the federal government requesting additional assistance.”
“The fact of the matter is that there is very little information about the drones in terms of their origin and what they are doing. Some question marks that I found rather distressing is that they said there was no credible threat to public safety and they stick by that, so that is what the federal government is saying,” the mayor added.
“Our Sheriff’s Department is taking it very seriously. They’ve been witnessing sightings on a daily basis and are documenting them,” he added.
Hankins was present at a press conference held in Seaside Heights where the matter was discussed with law enforcement and fellow public officials. “I attended the press conference with Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) about all the drone activity going on. He is introducing some bills to try and get state and local police and the county sheriff offices more authority to act in the absence of the FAA (Federal Aviation Agency).”
“There was also a briefing today by the White House about the drone situation came up again and Washington thinks New Jersey is making it all up,” Hankins said to the laughter of those in the audience.
“Newark FBI reported 5,931 reports from an 800 tipline that came in and 98 of them warranted follow up investigations as they haven’t come up with anything that seems to be accurate,” Hankins added.
“None of those leads came back as credible,” the mayor said skeptically. “However, I’ve seen them myself in my back yard. I know there is something different. Being a resident for over 30 years and being somewhat familiar with air patterns, for them to write it off as commercial aircraft…I don’t know. I will continue to work with our state and county leadership to keep you folks informed as information comes out.”
Hankins added, “one of the things that did come up that was disturbing is that the FBI did report that there is an increase in lasers hitting airplanes so local residents shouldn’t take any potshots at them and they certainly shouldn’t be shooting lasers at anything they see because it could be an actual pilot.”
Council President Conniff said, “I did the conference call on the drones today.” She noted however that not many details came out of this meeting which featured a bit of a dismissive tone toward the sightings in general.
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