Criticism is escalating over what the Federal Aviation Administration knew all along about those mysterious drones that triggered high anxiety in communities across New Jersey in November and December.
Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden expressed disappointment after the White House revealed on Tuesday, Jan. 28 that many of the drones flown in large numbers over the state were authorized by the FAA.
The White House claimed they were for research and various other reasons.
“They should have told the American people," Sheriff Golden said. “It's not fair. And certainly they could have quelled it. Somebody from the FAA certainly had to see all the national reporting that was going on, and could have made the phone call. They didn’t.”
According to Golden, this lack of communication meant that numerous law enforcement agencies were kept in the dark about the drones and an unnecessary deployment of resources.
The Ocean County Sheriff's department launched its own drone surveillance.
Call volume at its 911 center spiked about 50% higher than normal.
"We always tell, the federal government, law enforcement, if you see something, say something. Well, they should have said something," Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy said.
The National Aerospace Research and Technology Park is situated next to the FAA's Tech Center in Egg Harbor Township.
The president of the park said he can't speak specifically to the recent drone activity but says current research at the park involves new approaches to how radar is used.
“The next phase of aviation will involve a degree of autonomous flight," NARTP president Howard Kyle said. “Radar provides the sort of coverage you need to direct aircraft that might be flying autonomously.”
Monmouth County’s Sheriff says he’s pushing for congressional hearings on how all this was handled and for policy changes to make the notification process more transparent with better coordination.
An FAA spokesperson directed questions to the White House which did not respond to NBC10's request for comment.
