What to know about drones: reported sightings across Capital Region
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Reports of drone clusters in the sky have been spiraling across the east coast, including in Albany and Saratoga Counties. Both sheriff's offices said the sightings are concerning but there is no threat to the community as of right now.
Dan Morley, captain with the Saratoga County Sheriff's Office said the reports have been coming into their office for nearly a week now.
"I can tell you that since Dec. 10, we've received 15 different calls about I guess unidentified aerial objects, a.k.a. drones," said Morley. "In some situations, the objects have turned out to be airplanes, in some they've turned out to be natural formations such as stars and there have been some situations where we have not been able to conclusively identify what those objects are."
Sightings coming from Saratoga County to just above the Albany County Sheriff's Office this past weekend. Sheriff Craig Apple recalled a drone that circled above his office on both Friday and Saturday.
"One in particular was actually at our station," said Apple. "It was doing a grid pattern over our station which is very disconcerting," said Sheriff Apple.
The first reports originated in New Jersey a few weeks ago and reached the Capital Region last week. Officer Chad, with the Albany County Sheriff's Office is a drone pilot and said these multi-thousand dollar pieces of technology have various uses and capabilities.
"This is our largest drone that we fly here at the sheriff's office as you can see it has two cameras here, has the thermal camera and regular camera as well which enables us to fly longer, further," said Chad.
Chad showed us one of the drone's at the sheriff's office on Monday. He said the thermal imaging can help law enforcement locate missing people or catch a suspect on the loose.
"You can pick up that signature they call it and be able to find that person at nighttime with low light conditions," said Chad.
Despite how large that drone was, Sheriff Apple said the drones he's been getting reports of are larger than that -- with big flashing lights.
"At night, you're required to have those lights on, so if you see those lights typically they're going to be something larger than this," said Chad.
Drones are legal to fly at night, but it is illegal to fly over airports, military bases and New York City. Drones also must be flying under 400 feet to be within legal limits.
"The feds and the state need to step up and we need to get a grip on this technology," said Apple. "As we know right now, these are not causing any harm other than alarm, and annoyance but it is an invasion."
FBI Albany said they are still trying to determine whether or not all of these sightings are actual drones or something else. Stick with News 10 for all of those updates.