New Jersey drones latest: Conspiracies about purpose mount even as White House, Pentagon try to quell fears – UK Times

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul blocked legislation Wednesday that would have expanded resources for state and local authorities to track drones over the Northeast.

Paul said the bill would give them unnecessary surveillance powers, according to The Hill.

“We started responding to multiple reports of drones flying near city neighborhoods, federal and military properties on Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 8:14 p.m,” White Settlement Police Chief Christopher Cook said in a post on social media.

Cook said police were working with the FBI and other agencies to investigate the aircraft.

A new report from the Office of the Inspector General for the New York City Police Department has found that its policies lack transparency, with policies not fully describing its drone practices.

“Drones can be a critical public safety tool capable of enhancing NYPD operations. However, this Report found that NYPD’s Impact and Use policies do not fully and accurately describe the Department’s unmanned aircraft systems’ practices in certain respects and issued key recommendations to achieve that goal,” Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said.

“NYPD’s increase in drone usage in recent years has raised privacy concerns related to how drones are used to conduct police surveillance and monitoring,” said Inspector General Jeanene Barrett. “The recommendations in this Report call on NYPD to enhance its unmanned aircraft systems’ impact and use policy by providing additional information about the drone program and drone capabilities, thereby increasing public transparency related to NYPD’s use of this technology.”

Missouri’s Eureka Police Department said Tuesday that it had received several reports of mysterious lights in the sky.

Those lights, however, turned out to be a holiday display at Brookdale Farms.

Police in New York told The New York Times that they received 120 calls about drones last weekend.

However, most of the reports were not really about the drones at all, Rebecca Weiner, the department’s head of intelligence and counterterrorism, noted.

At least one person called about the planet Venus.

Weiner added that there has not been a marked increase in the number of actual drones spotted by the police.

Around 500 drones will fly above Central Park on New Year’s Eve, in place of the annual fireworks.

The decision was made due to drought in the region and following late-year fires in New York City.

The region has seen some relief since then and is no longer under a drought warning, but the watch remains.

The drones will project images that have to do with running, The New York Times reported. The spectacle coincides with the New York Road Runners’ Midnight Run.

Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett said Wednesday that he believes China is tied to recent drone sightings and that the aerial vehicles don’t fly over his state because people would shoot them down.

“There’s a reason you don’t see them flying over Tennessee, at least where I live, because everyone’s got a dadgum 12-gauge, brother. And, I hear they taste a whole heck of a lot like chicken,” he told The Benny Show.

“For John Kirby to stand before the American people, red-faced and sputtering excuses, and claim there is nothing out of the ordinary going on here after weeks of mounting concern is either sheer incompetence, willful ignorance, or a cover-up,” he said. “People are reporting drones, some the size of SUVs, and instead of addressing those legitimate concerns, the administration is brushing them off and treating Americans like they are delusional. It is unacceptable.