Over the weekend, the sheriff’s office filed off a post on the agency’s Facebook profile, informing Coloradans that the department was actively investigating the matter. The Saturday post further noted that during an observation by several deputies, which included personnel from nearby Yuma County Sheriff’s Office, officials managed to track “over 16 drones” between the neighboring jurisdictions.
“We believe that the drones, though startling, are not malicious in nature,” the post explains. “The Sheriff's Office is following up on leads and communications with state and federal agencies to pinpoint the exact nature to their activities.”
“If any of these drones fly onto your property or are looking into windows, please call the communications center immediately so a deputy can respond to your location. If you happen to come into possession of one of these drones, please contact the Sheriff's Office so we can conduct a forensic evaluation of the drone to identify the owners and take the appropriate actions,” it adds.
Offering more details on the massive drone sighting, Phillips County Sheriff Thomas Elliot told local outlet the Denver Post on Monday that the drones appeared at about 7 p.m. local time and would eventually disappear at roughly 10 p.m. Elliot also estimated that the drones had a 6-foot wingspan and that they tended to stay between 200 feet and 300 feet in the air.
With the drones appearing to fly “in squares of about 25 miles,” the sheriff speculated to the outlet that they could be carrying out a search of some kind. “They’ve been doing a grid search, a grid pattern … they fly one square and then they fly another square,” Elliot said.
Although Vic Moss, a Denver-based co-owner of online drone school Drone U, suggested to the Post that the drones could be part of a government agency program, that has yet to be proven.
At present, the US Air Force informed the local authorities that the drones do not belong to the service. Additionally, the Federal Aviation Administration has indicated that it does not have any information regarding the nighttime drone appearances since drone operators are not required to submit flight plans to the agency.
However, there is a possibility that the drone appearances are linked to an innovative Colorado drone company trying to test out its latest invention in the state’s rural areas, according to Moss, who hinted that the nighttime flights could be just drone operators trying to create maps or carry out a search of some kind.
“Maybe they’re testing something of theirs out in that area because it is very rural,” he said. “But everyone that I know of, they coordinate all that stuff with local authorities to prevent this very situation. They all very much want people to understand drones and not cause this kind of hysteria.”
While the investigation is ongoing in the matter, Elliot has informed local residents that they no longer need to call in drone sightings to the agency. “We just want to know if one lands, if we can get our hands on it, or if they see someone operating them, that’s what we’re looking for now,” he said. “We know they exist.”
As officials are working to pinpoint a possible operator, they have ruled out a few holiday suspects. “It’s not Santa or his reindeer,” Elliot stated.
Officials are strongly urging local residents against attempting to shoot down the intruding drones as it would likely lead to a fire and be a federal crime. Under Title 18 of the United State Code 32, the sabotage of an unmanned aircraft could carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
