Frustrations and confusion grow as more residents in New Jersey report drone sightings

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. — Confusion and frustration over drone sightings along the East Coast are reaching a boiling point, as reports of the mysterious flying objects continue to pour in. 

In Seaside Heights, New Jersey, NBC News had direct access to surveillance efforts by the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department on Friday evening. 

“Realistically, once we find out where they’re coming from or where they’re going, we’ll have a better idea of who’s doing it,” Anthony D’Amico, an Ocean County detective said. 

D’Amico used a tethered drone connected to a power source that has the ability to fly 200 feet straight into the air. Attached, it has a thermal camera that captures images undetectable by the human eye. 

NBC News witnessed several fast-flying objects Friday that appeared to be moving much faster than commercial planes on the police thermal cameras. 

“I couldn’t even begin to tell you what that was,” D’Amico said after observing an object that zipped past the screen. “It’s harder to tell because it’s all thermal. So it’s not like I can look up and clearly make out what it is.” 

After about a month of reported sightings, there still haven’t been any clear answers as to what these objects are from government or local officials. 

“I feel like everybody’s on the same page, we’re all feeling kind of frustrated that no one has any answers,” D’Amico added.

Outside of the thermal camera, our team also saw a couple of blinking objects in the sky that appeared to hover in place above the ocean, not moving like a commercial plane would.

The sheriff’s surveillance operation Friday night drew numerous residents from the area out to observe the mystery in the skies, some of them conducting their own search. 

“Saying ‘we don’t know’ and ‘it’s OK’ is not an acceptable answer to go by,” said Nikole, a resident in the Seaside Heights area who said she wasn’t comfortable sharing her last name. 

“It’s going left to right, left to right,” her father, Martin, said. 

“And it’s going vertical, and vertical — I’ve never seen a plane go vertical!” she added.

“The general public needs to have the OK to go ahead and fly. Farmers need the OK to go ahead and fly paragliders, skydivers. But yet, everybody is comfortable having giant machines flying around, and there are no answers. It’s really a concern for the general public,” Nikole continued. 

Other residents told us they’ve also been seeing strange things in the sky all week, some of them coming together on a Facebook group called “Operation Investigation.” 

Group members Pamela Westervelt and Doug Hendricks were on the lookout for more sightings in the area Friday night. 

When asked how they are able to tell the difference between a plane and a drone, Westervelt said they use the process of elimination, “If you see it hovering, if you see it moving in an erratic way.”

They also said they use smartphone apps like FlightRadar24 to identify where registered aircraft were located in the sky so they could rule out commercial flights.

“Listening for the jet engines, things like that to eliminate the things that are potentially airplanes or military aircraft,” Hendricks added.

There are more questions than answers, as more reports continue to come in. 

“I feel frustrated. I mean, I think we deserve answers to what’s flying around in the air by our homes, and it’s frustrating,” Hendricks said.