Nassau 'Ahead Of Curve' With Its Drone Technology: Blakeman

MINEOLA, NY — Nassau County officials have been paying attention to the rash of drone sightings in New Jersey.

"It's something that we've been monitoring," County Executive Bruce Blakeman said.

The county has been in contact with federal agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security regarding to the uptick of drones.

Blakeman said Nassau also works closely with a task force comprised of the NYPD and Coast Guard and Port Authority members.

"We are ahead of the curve," Blakeman said at a news conference on Thursday. "We have the state-of-the-art drone detection."

However, Blakeman said that's not enough to deal with the situation.

"I'm going to call on the federal government to give that mitigation technology to local police departments," he said.

The county executive said the federal government will access its own drone mitigation technology and personnel for large-scale events on Long Island, such as the Cricket tournament.

"We'd like to have that coverage 24/7," Blakeman said.

But, he wants residents to know that "we are able to track drones as they go over Nassau County," Blakeman said. "We are able to pinpoint where they come from."

Earlier in the week, the FBI and Homeland Security said the drone activity, despite receiving thousands of tips, was nothing unusual.

As drone sightings increased, Governor Hochul announced the federal government would start deploying a state-of-the-art drone detection system in New York.