A spate of drone sightings across New Jersey have alarmed residents and baffled authorities, but the Garden State's governor said Thursday that the mysterious flying objects do not appear to pose an immediate threat.
in social media postsGov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday he spoke with a handful of state and federal officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, about the drones, which began appearing over North Jersey in the past few weeks.
And it seems residents have nothing to fear.
“We are actively monitoring the situation and working closely with our federal and law enforcement partners on this matter,” Murphy wrote.
“There is no known threat to the general public at this time.”
Still, federal authorities are investigating, and dozens of nighttime sightings near homes, neighborhoods and military installations have left local police and federal law enforcement officials puzzled.
“Unfortunately, we don't have many answers. We don't want to speculate or hypothesize what's going on,” said FBI spokeswoman Amy J. Thoreson. he told NJ.com on Wednesday.
“We're doing everything we can to figure it out.”
Drones flying alone or in groups began appearing around Nov. 18, when police responded to reports of drones flying over parts of Morris County.
Since then, people have been seen in eight counties, from Bergen in the east to Hunterdon in the west and near the Pennsylvania state line. According to Bergen records.
one of the drones interfered with a medical emergency helicopter set to airlift a patient.and the sighting led the Federal Aviation Administration to restrict drone flights over Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County and Trump National Golf Club in Somerset.
“It's a total mystery,” Morris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Mark Chiarolanza told NJ.com.
“The best way to figure this out is if someone can figure these things out really well,” he said, adding that the large size of some drones suggests that recreational groups may not be behind the incident. He added that this shows that this is not the case.
“You can't knock these things out of the sky,” he continued.
“That's dangerous.”
However, it would be extremely difficult to destroy one of the machines, even if it did not pose a danger to people on the ground.
“It's very difficult to shoot a drone out of the air, and it's very difficult to intercept it,” a New Jersey law enforcement official told the Post.
“There are certain technologies that make that possible,” the source continued. “But I think it's almost impossible to actually shoot it with a bullet.”
At a press conference Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the department is developing a plan to respond to sightings that have also occurred on military installations in Virginia.
But he declined to provide details of the confidential arrangement.
“Unmanned systems, commonly known as drones, pose an increasingly likely threat to U.S. personnel, facilities, and assets overseas and on U.S. soil,” Rider said. Ta.
The plan will ensure the department is “prepared to counter unmanned system operations,” he said.
“Again, I'm not going to go into specific tactics, techniques or procedures at this time,” said U.S. Air Force Gen.
“But it allows the department to approach this in a comprehensive, consistent and holistic way.”
