State police investigating ‘suspicious drone activity' in Connecticut

State police said they are aware of “suspicious drone activity” in Connecticut and they are investigating.

They said they are aware of suspicious drone activity in various areas of the state and the Emergency Services Unit has sent a drone detection system to assist with these investigations, which are set up in the Groton/New London area.

State police said they have been monitoring all Unmanned Aircraft System flights in the area and have, and will continue to, report all suspicious flights to federal and local law enforcement.

This comes amid mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey and New York.

John Kirby, the White House spokesman on national security matters, told reporters Thursday in response to those sightings that Homeland Security, the FBI and local law enforcement “have not been able to corroborate any of the reported visual sightings" of the drones, NBC News reports

Kirby said, after seeing images of the sightings, law enforcement officials concluded “these are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully” and that there have been no confirmed drone sightings in restricted airspace and they have uncovered no malicious activity, NBC News reports.

“We have no evidence at this time that these reported sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus,” a White House National Security Council official told NBC News when asked about the drones.

“We understand that people are anxious and they want to know what’s going on,” Higgins said in a release. “After the reports out of New Jersey and other states, we want to assure Connecticut residents that we are fully engaged, and we take reports of suspicious sightings seriously. As is our practice in Connecticut, we are working with our local, state and federal partners, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Transportation Safety Administration."

Some U.S. House and Senate lawmakers are calling on federal law enforcement officials to brief them.

On Friday, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote to the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Department of Defense sharing his concerns about reports of drone activity in the New England airspace, including Connecticut, and asked for a briefing on how the agencies plan to address safety and security concerns.

“The proliferation of reported drone activities in this region raises significant safety and security concerns for both commercial and private aviation as well as national security concerns,” Blumenthal wrote. “Incidents involving drones interfering with aircraft operations have increased, posing a real and substantial risk to passengers, crews, and others in the vicinity. And, I am particularly concerned about the potential for these unmanned aerial vehicles – many of which are as large as a car— to disrupt air traffic and, more alarmingly, to be used maliciously to threaten national security.”

He added, “It is critical that the FAA take immediate and comprehensive action to ensure the safety of the airspace. I therefore request that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provide briefing regarding a comprehensive plan, coordinated with interagency partners, on addressing these concerns. This briefing should cover all details available regarding these drones as to ownership, operation, impacts on aviation, national security, and privacy,” Blumenthal added.

You can also read the full letter here.

Sen. Tony Hwang (R-Fairfield), former chairman of the Public Safety & Security Committee, issued a statement calling sightings of possible unauthorized drones over the Fairfield community unsettling.

“It’s very unsettling to public safety and security, both here in Fairfield and elsewhere,” Hwang said in a statement. What we have is a lack of information at all levels of government. It’s really a breakdown of communication. Without that vital communication, you lose the public’s confidence, you get speculation and you get fear.”