Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5th), a candidate for governor, has proposed legislation that he says would help state and local law enforcement detect and respond to drone activity without needing federal approval or help.
The RADAR Act, Gottheimer said, “would give local law enforcement the tools they need to actually monitor what’s going on, so they can have eyes on the sky locally and then be able to coordinate properly with the federal law enforcement who’s in charge of this.”
After Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged that people are seeing drones — something White House representatives previously poured cold water on — Gottheimer said it’s good Mayorkas acknowledged the fact, but he said federal officials must “come clean with the public, like actually just do a proper briefing and press conference with the public, and just tell them what’s going on. You know, I think it’s incredibly frustrating for people when their government, the federal government, the agencies responsible for this, don’t come out and actually explain things and take questions and, and actually provide some answers.”
On Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy urged people to “calm down” about drone sightings. He said the federal government had sent “very sophisticated systems” to help State Police detect and track the objects. Murphy said there is little to no evidence of suspicious activity.
