Police in White Settlement say they’re trying to determine who’s behind a number of drone sightings in the community on Tuesday night.
Officials said small groups of drones were seen flying near neighborhoods and the NAS Joint Reserve Base. It comes as across the country concern has been mounting over a perceived rise in drone sightings.
White Settlement prides itself on being a military community, home to Lockheed Martin and the NAS JRB.
Police said that’s why a series of pictures taken by officers last night were such a concern.
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“We haven’t seen the formation of drones like that before,” said Christopher Cook, police chief in White Settlement.
Investigators said starting after 8 PM on Tuesday, residents and police officers saw drones flying together about 100 feet in the air, sometimes in groups of six, other times two or three drones together.
The sightings continued for more than two hours, with some reports coming from federal law enforcement.
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“Kind of concerning, especially with all the national narrative,” said Cook. “I think people are just kind of in tune with what’s been going on in the northeast.”
Concerns over an uptick in drone sightings in the New Jersey area have become national news in recent weeks.
Federal officials told NBC News that they’ve received more than 5000 tips about the sightings – but right now, the activity is not considered a threat to national security.
Department of Homeland Security officials said one possible explanation for an increase in sightings was an FAA rule change last year that allowed drones to start flying at night.
“Our assessment leads us to conclude that these are lawful and legal aviation activities, manned and unmanned drones and civil aviation aircraft or commercial aircraft,” said John Kirby, a White House National Security Communications Advisor.
For White Settlement, any drone activity is a problem: without an FAA waiver, drones can’t be flown anywhere in the city because of the nearby Joint Reserve Base.
Police said they were working with the FBI to identify the drone pilots, who could face criminal and federal consequences.
“We’re not here to say what they were doing, because we just don’t know,” said Cook. “We really need to identify who put these up, if it was one person or multiple people.”
White Settlement police said anyone with a drone in their community should go through the FAA’s DropZone website to apply for permission to fly.
