NJ’s Toms River As increased drone activity continues throughout New Jersey, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed a drone sighting that was deemed suspicious. Residents of Ocean County in Jackson and Toms River have claimed many drone sightings near Joint Base MDL, a federal no-drone zone, as first reported by Shore News Network earlier this week.
Sheriff Michael Mastronard stated, “Our agency has a Drone Unit assigned to review these complaints as we continue to receive reports of low-flying drones over Ocean County.”
Mastronardy did not specify if the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office would use its two technological tools that are prohibited by federal law to stop drones. There is a concern with this technology, even though it might be essential to removing the drones for an investigation. The Sheriff’s Department is prohibited from using or possessing that technology by federal law.
Former Toms River Police Chief Michael Mastronardy has significantly expanded the use of technology in Ocean County’s main law enforcement agency since taking over as sheriff.
Keeping eyes on the ground, eyes in the sky, and eyes on the sky is one way Sheriff Mastronardy keeps people safe.
Mastronardy spoke about the department’s fleet of ariel drones and video surveillance systems during a recent meeting in Jackson Township. These tools, which depend on sophisticated equipment, enable him to monitor everything that occurs in Ocean County, sometimes even before it occurs.
Mastronardy gave an example of how the department combats crime in Ocean County by using surveillance tools, a fleet of drones, social media monitoring systems, and anti-drone technology. According to him, anti-drone technology is now also used by his agency.
Regarding protecting police activities and crime scenes, Mastronardy stated, “We have a system that allows us to take over other people’s drones and send them right back to them.” In one instance, a man’s drone approached our location, so we immediately returned it to him. He was perplexed. He believed his drone was malfunctioning. His drone flew back to him, and our people watched him through binoculars.
According to Mastronardy, the department now has two units that can either down drones if necessary or return them to their owners. He claims that officers are put in danger when drones fly over crime scenes.
“We don’t want anyone to tell the bad guys where we are or give away our positions,” he stated.
According to Mastronardy, his anti-drone technique is the only one used in the US by a non-federal organization east of the Mississippi River.
“They’re really not supposed to be here,” he continued. We now have two, though.
There are currently 16 surveillance drones in the Sheriff’s Department fleet, many of which are equipped with thermal and high-resolution cameras.
Fireground applications, event situational awareness, and the search for a missing person in a wooded region or over water are just a few of the scenarios in which unmanned aircraft fitted with these sensors have shown themselves useful.
The anti-drone units are helpful in maintaining public safety, according to Mastronardy. According to him, the department utilizes the drones to prevent members of the public from flying their drones in non-police areas, such crowd-filled events.
Mastronardy recalled an incident at the beach where a woman was hurt when someone’s drone fell from the sky. She required many stitches. It goes beyond that; we have no idea what people may drop from these drones to keep them at bay. We currently have two: one in the north and one in the south.
Mastronardy declined to comment when questioned today over the legality of a non-federal agency using anti-drone equipment. The FAA claims that using anti-drone equipment by any non-federal body is unlawful. During his presentation, Mastronardy acknowledged that the department does not currently have any federal authorization to use anti-drone technology.
The Department of Justice advised non-federal law enforcement entities in 2020 regarding the legal and unlawful implications of local anti-drone technology use.
Although there was a strong commercial need for UAS detection and mitigation at the time the advisory was published, it is unclear who had the right to employ such capabilities.
Despite some potentially applicable federal criminal laws, the DOJ stated that only four federal departments—Defense, Energy, Justice, and Homeland Security—have received limited authority from Congress to date to carry out UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) detection and mitigation activities. In addition to not conducting legal evaluations of commercially available goods for conformity with those laws, the Departments and Agencies issuing the Advisory lack the jurisdiction to authorize non-federal public and private use of UAS detection or mitigation capabilities.
Mastronardy frequently places compliance control cameras throughout the county in addition to drones. Many are located in culturally sensitive regions, like neighborhoods with a high concentration of Orthodox Jews, at major intersections in places like Seaside Heights, and for the purpose of video surveillance of public events and huge gatherings.
With four directional cameras on a retractable monopole, the mobile surveillance devices are trailer mounted.
In order to use technology that enables the sheriff and his department to access video feeds from surveillance trailers, surveillance drones, and other video sources like traffic cameras and public security cameras from anywhere, including his phone while he’s at home, the sheriff’s department and CYTTA Corp entered into an agreement last year. The sheriff can evaluate live video streams while the department is in operation thanks to that system.
Ocean County was the most recent to implement IGAN 2.0, or Incent Global Area Network, technology that is utilized by organizations such as Homeland Security and the FBI.
In order to enable real-time situational awareness and continuously provide law enforcement with pertinent and actionable intelligence, the county’s new IGAN 2.0 ICS integrates any available video and audio streams, drones, body cams, fixed cameras, cell phones, and other cameras in the department’s arsenal.
According to Mastronardy, IGAN gives law enforcement officials the information they require to make crucial judgments on the spot. It will develop into a vital piece of technology that can safeguard and preserve our neighborhoods. In order to further ensure Ocean County’s safety and security, we are eager to implement inside our department and then connect all public and private schools as well as community organizations.
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