Gottheimer Announces Legislation To Help Track Drones In NJ, Urges FBI To Brief Public

NORTH JERSEY — Rep. Josh Gottheimer announced Tuesday that he will introduce legislation to make it easier for police around New Jersey to monitor and track drones in the air, in response to recent concerns about large drones hovering in New Jersey overnight.

He also called on the FBI and FAA to hold an "immediate public briefing" addressing the recent sightings of large drones near government facilities in New Jersey. In one case, he noted, a drone held up a medical helicopter.

Gottheimer said his proposed new legislation will expand federal grants to help local law enforcement agencies track drones using radar systems.

Gottheimer, who is running for New Jersey governor in 2025, explained, "This technology will equip our law enforcement with the resources they need to identify how many drones there are, where they're coming from, and where they're going."

He said that the grants, through the COPS Technology Grant and Equipment Program, will make the radar technology better available.

He also noted that last year, he co-sponsored the bipartisan Drone Act, which prohibits the most dangerous uses of drones. It establishes a two-year prison sentence for anyone who uses a drone to interfere with emergency-response activity, law-enforcement activity, or military operations. The act also bans attaching a weapon to a drone.

The congressman said Tuesday that he has not personally seen a drone, but received many recent texts and calls from concerned residents, including videos.

He said that because the technology is relatively new, it can be used for "nefarious purposes" such as stalking someone or gathering information about military bases.

Not 'Wild West'

"Jersey cannot be the Wild West of drone activity," he said.

The congressman lives in Bergen County, one of the many areas whose officials recently told residents to report drone sightings to the FBI. READ MORE: Wyckoff Warns Of Drone Sightings, Tells Residents To Report Them To FBI

"I've written to [federal law enforcement] asking them to immediately brief the public on the recent drone activity to help allay the concerns of those around the state," Gottheimer said. "We can never play it too safe to protect New Jersey families."

Drone activity "has great potential but also risk," he said.

He noted that a drone could be built in someone's garage for a few hundred dollars, and that people around the country have registered 1.7 million private aircraft in recent years.

Drones have positive uses, he noted: Real estate agents shoot aerial videos of property for sale, farmers survey their crops, and law enforcement agencies have conducted drone searches during natural disasters.

"Random unidentified drone activity isn't something we should have to do deal with," he said.

He said that in 2019, a drone near Teterboro Airport interfered with flights from Newark.

"They'll always be hovering over us," Gottheimer said. "The question is, what are they going to do about it?"

Close Encounters Of The NJ Kind

Over the past two weeks, county and local law enforcement agencies in many of New Jersey's 21 counties have acknowledged concerns about the sightings and have asked witnesses to call the FBI.

Gottheimer repeated the plea, encouraging residents to report sightings to 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit them online at tips.fbi.gov.

Public officials have said they have no evidence of a threat.

Gottheimer said he, too, didn't know of a specific threat, but could not disclose information learned in private briefings.

One police official in North Jersey, Florham Park Police Chief Joseph Orlando, recently said, "While we currently have no evidence or information to indicate these drones pose an imminent threat at this time, their presence appears nefarious in nature."

On Monday, Democratic Rep. Tom Kean and several local mayors also called upon federal officials to release more information.

• READ MORE: Wyckoff Warns Of Drone Sightings, Tells Residents To Report Them To FBI