Exclusive: New Jersey Mayor, Police Chief Shed Light On Increasing and ‘Concerning’ Drone Sightings, Lack of Answers From Government

Mediaite senior reporter Diana Falzone spoke with West Milford Mayor Michele Dale and Police Chief Shannon Sommerville this week to shed some light on mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey and other states that have residents concerned.

Falzone, a resident of West Milford, noted in her report that it’s not just Jersey that’s dealing with these odd drone sightings. Reports have also come out of New York, Pennsylvania, and other states. There has yet to be any official explanation for these sightings from local officials or the federal government.

The FBI and Homeland Security released a joint statement this week, claiming the drones “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.” The departments said there is no threat to public safety at this time, but that has not calmed concerned residents seeking more of an explanation.

Some, including lawmakers, have thrown out theories ranging from aliens to Iran to China.

Videos from Jersey and elsewhere show drones between 8-10 feet with blinking lights in the sky.

Dale told Falzone she attended a meeting at the New Jersey state police headquarters and there was little explanation provided there. The meeting was strictly for mayors and they were briefed by a representative from Homeland Security and the head of the state police.

Dale explained:

A lot of the mayors left there feeling pretty frustrated because they didn’t really have many answers for us. A couple of things that we did know, which put people even more on edge, was the fact that they did state that generally drones can be detected through radio frequencies and registered with the FAA and that the sightings they were investigating were not detectable through the frequencies and that they didn’t know where they were taking off from or landing. And that was the biggest takeaway from that meeting for myself.

Dale called the sightings “concerning” and Sommerville explained that while West Milford is rural and small, there is a lot of infrastructure to be worried about.

“We are in the middle of those two military bases. On top of everything, we do have major reservoirs, critical infrastructure, we have a water treatment plant here, we have an airport in West Milford, so there are a lot of critical infrastructure areas that are of concern to us,” he said.

West Milford, which is in northern Jersey, sits between West Point and the military base Picatinny Arsenal.

Sommerville revealed there’s been an “uptick” in sightings recently, but some of that is fueled by media coverage and some reports can be chalked up to “circular sightings,” or residents calling in about seeing the same drone.

“It’s hard to determine if they’re hobbyists drones or if they’re government drones, if you want to say, or out-of-country drones,” he said. “I don’t know where they’re coming from, but I do believe that you are getting hobbyist drones now that are going up at nighttime, trying to say, hey, look, I’m going to find a picture of that big drone that everybody talks about in the sky.”

Dale knocked the government claiming that there is no public safety threat when they have no explanation for the drones. She also noted her briefing with Homeland Security included the concerning revelation that these drones cannot be tracked and no one knows where they are landing or taking off from.

“I’m not quite sure how they could confidently make that statement when they tell us they don’t have enough information or they don’t have the information, such as being able to detect them,” she said. “It’s a little bit insulting because our residents are educated, they’re down to Earth, they know what they see, they know they’ve seen an increased presence.”