CLARK — During Monday night’s regular meeting of the Clark Township Council, Councilman Brian P. Toal asked Business Administrator Jim Ulrich to weigh in on the recent drone sightings in New Jersey. Councilman Toal stated that he has been receiving calls and texts regarding updates on the sightings.
“I have no idea how to respond to it because I have no jurisdiction or any say in this. It’s nothing to do with me as a Councilman, but I just want to know what the township is doing to deal with it at this time,” said Councilman Toal.
Before Mr. Ulrich responded, Mayor Sal Bonaccorso commented on a recent meeting of mayors held in Trenton that he could not attend. He stated that he was glad he could not attend the meeting, as later discussions revealed that it was, “a complete waste of time; nothing was done.”
“I don’t think it poses a threat. No one seems to believe that at this time; we’re only telling you what we can,” Mayor Bonaccorso said. “There’s nothing local government or local police can do about it at this time. There’s an FBI hotline number. Report it to them, if you like. There’s been so many sightings. I’m sure they’re inundated with it, and we just go to play through and see what the federal government has to say eventually.”
Mr. Ulrich also commented that there are over a million licensed drones in the country and that people should keep that in mind when seeing them. He also stated that he was on a call on Monday with a special assistant to the president in intergovernmental affairs, and there was not a lot of additional information given at the meeting.
“There was also some discussion by the FBI and homeland security saying that a lot of these have been determined to be manned aircraft that, you know, depending on distance and speed, it could appear to be hovering,” said Mr. Ulrich. “There really are no answers to why, when and where are they coming from, so you know they are putting out some additional radar and trying to identify where they are coming and going, but you know there’s a lot that is going on there.”
The FBI tipline to report drone sightings is 1-800-CALL-FBI (1800-225-5324).
