There have been thousands of drone sightings throughout New Jersey since the middle of November. Now, residents across Pennsylvania are spotting drones flying across parts of the commonwealth.
Pennsylvania residents have been taking to social media the past few nights to post videos of unidentified drones flying across the eastern half of the state.
The sightings span from Chads Ford, near the Delaware border, into the Philadelphia collar counties and up through Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Officials from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) and the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) confirmed the sightings in an email and stated that information is being shared with appropriate law enforcement agencies.
“PEMA is aware of drone sighting reports in the Commonwealth and that information is being shared with appropriate law enforcement partners,” Jeff Jumper, Deputy Communications Director at PEMA, said in a statement. “All inquiries should be directed to law enforcement, as PEMA does not have an investigative role.”
A spokesperson for the PSP stated they received multiple phone calls Wednesday and Thursday from individuals reporting drones in the night sky and stressed that there is not an immediate threat to public safety.
Since mid-November, there have been at least 3,000 reported sightings of large drones flying over or near military bases and private residences throughout New Jersey, and according to reports, some of the drones are the size of a car.
State Sen. Rosemary Brown (R-Lackawanna) penned a letter to the Federal Aviation Administrator Michael Whitaker asking the federal government to allow state governments with legal authority to respond when drones are a potential threat.
“It is time to allow state governments to respond swiftly and decisively in these instances,” Brown said in her letter. “Currently, Federal Aviation Administration regulations limit state and local governments to disable or neutralize drones that pose eminent danger to the communities we represent.”
Brown also began circulating a co-sponsor memo on Thursday asking her colleagues to sign onto a resolution “urging the federal government to empower state governments with the legal authority to respond when a threat is possible.”
Brown stated in an interview that she saw drones flying on Thursday as she was traveling back to her district from the Harrisburg area.
“I was driving back from Hershey last night and I did see something about 9:30 right along Route 33,and then when I actually got home, my phone started getting a lot of text messages from some family,” Brown said.
“There is a resort that my family is involved with and there were three to five right over the resort in the Mount Pocono area and flashing green lights, flashing yellow lights very low, hovering over the restaurant and some of the facilities.”
Brown went on to explain that she wants state authorities to put as much pressure on the federal government to be transparent and explain what the drones are doing.
The Keystone’s Ashley Adams stated that she saw four drones flying over the Kutztown area late on Thursday.
“I wasn’t even looking for them but there were four of them flying slowly in a straight line at almost equal intervals apart,” Adams described in a group chat. “I was driving when I saw them and I happened to be pulling into my house when I saw them.”
