Area drone sightings fade but concerns linger

CELINA - While drones are still on Mercer County Sheriff Doug Timmerman's mind, there is little that his department can do without more funding and resources, he said.

As well, it is still not clear why at one point throughout the county, drones reportedly as large as a small car were appearing in the night sky - or who was piloting them.

Reports of drones began flowing into the sheriff's office on Jan. 24 before reaching their peak a few days later and then slowing to a trickle. However, the sheriff's office continues to dispatch deputies to the locations of the sightings, compile reports and forward them on to the Federal Aviation Administration.

There were also numerous reports of drone sightings reported throughout Darke County around the same time, per a news release from Sheriff Mark Whittaker.

"What it comes down to is we're lacking the funding that (we would need from) the FAA to be able to do our job," Timmerman told The Daily Standard on Friday. "I know we've talked to (U.S. Sen.) Bernie Moreno; he seems to be the one that's been the most helpful for us. I think (State Rep.) Angie King's trying to push hard on the state side too. But Bernie has been in contact, I know, with Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary. But I don't know what's being proposed in the legislation down there to make that beneficial."

Timmerman previously told the paper that he was also in contact with federal air marshals; Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's Office; U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio; U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green; and U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy, who "are certainly trying to bring it to the attention of the federal government."

While the county's issue with drone sightings has subsided a little bit, it has not completely gone away, he continued.

"Because people are still seeing them," he said. "Some people just quit calling because nothing can be done about it, you know? So our calls have subsided, but I still talk to the people in the public, (while) going to fish fries, going to banquets, everywhere I go, it's brought up, 'Hey, I saw one yesterday.' So, we periodically get calls, as little as two a week, (and) up to half a dozen or so a week."

After doing some research and speaking with the Transportation Security Administration, the sheriff's office recently purchased a drone spotter device that allows law enforcement
to put a sensor out and identify drones, as well as the drone operator's location, Timmerman said.

"We've had that up for a week," he said. "There's no doubt that it's working properly. We are able to see the drones in the area, but these are not nefarious drones."

The spotter was purchased mainly because of the ongoing drone issues in the county, as well as to use during future, large countywide events for surveillance.

"We felt like, after I conferred with some neighboring sheriffs, that it would probably be a good idea if we had this for our future, big events," Timmerman said. "For us, it would probably be the county fair being the biggest event where people are all together outside. So I did purchase one through the office, obviously, and it seems to be working fine, but it doesn't help us with the drones that are undetectable."

At a bird flu press conference in Versailles on March 6, Gov. Mike DeWine said that the local drone sightings are a part of a much bigger problem.

"And the federal government is going to have to address it, because we do not, even law enforcement, have the ability to do what we need to do with drones that might be in a dangerous - potentially dangerous - place," DeWine said.

He added that in the state government, they deal with drones all the time because they often fly over prisons.

"And that has been used as one way to get drugs into prison," he continued. "The drone goes through and makes its drop. Now we have pretty good control over it. We now can detect those. We have the equipment to detect those in our prisons so we know when it's coming and when the drone isn't around, (and) frankly, we have to shut our prison, lock our prison down in a sense. No one goes out on the yard, so we can retrieve or see if there's actually drugs that have been dropped."

Timmerman said that he is aware of drones dropping drugs around prisons and jails, however the county jail has not had that issue.

"There used to be a geo field around any prison and jail," he said. "Even specifically, like the drones that we bought to use at the sheriff's office, you cannot fly (around the jail). Even when we took them outside to test them, the guy would go try to fly it over your jail. You can't do it because there's a geo field around it to prevent anybody from doing it so they're not flying over your prison yards and dropping drugs or cell phones or any other type of contraband. We specifically have never had an issue with anybody dropping anything over our facility."

The Mercer County Sheriff's Office has two drones used to help with traffic crash reconstruction, by taking aerial photos and video footage, and for searching for missing people.

Congress has to look into the technology and advancement of drones, DeWine added.

"And this would be an opportunity for Congress to hold hearings and look at this from a security point of view," he said. "Now, what's going on in Western Ohio with those drones, I don't know any more than you do. I hear the same things. I talked to (Sheriff Whittaker) and I talked to some of the producers who are here who have talked about all the drone sightings that they have seen."

When asked, Timmerman said he agrees with DeWine's call for Congress to get involved.

"Because this is not just a Mercer County thing," Timmerman said. "I mean, it's going from state to state. You have to get ahold of it on a federal level."