Drone sightings: Department of Public Safety scales back drone investigation; no suspicious activity found

The Colorado Department of Public Safety announced Monday that it will scale back "proactive" investigation of mysterious drone sightings that have perplexed Colorado residents since late last year.

The department has confirmed no incidents of criminal activity, and investigations have not substantiated reports of suspicious or illegal drone activity, according to a report released Monday.

“The public has been worried about the reports of strange drone activity. Our duty is to be responsive to community concerns and to investigate suspicious activity, and so we mobilized our teams to look into this,” said CDPS Executive Director Stan Hilkey in a news release. “Despite all of the reported activity, we are still unaware of any crime being committed. While I can’t conclusively say we have solved the mystery, we have been able to rule out a lot of the activity that was causing concern. We will continue to remain vigilant and respond as new information comes in.”

Beginning before the holidays, the drones — which were initially spotted traveling in grid-like formations across the two counties — were reported to be seen flying at high altitudes from about 7-10 p.m. in northeastern Colorado as well as in southwestern Nebraska, according to the Denver Post.

Drones were even spotted in Larimer County, though it's unclear whether those sightings matched the same grid formation of multiple aircraft.

The FAA — as well as 25 other government agencies and private companies, including Amazon — claimed to know nothing about the initial sightings in northeastern Colorado, according to a list compiled by 9News just before the end of the year.

Though it's been speculated that the drones are part of counter-drone exercises conducted out of Wyoming's F.E. Warren Air Force Base, the base told the Coloradoan that is not the case.

F.E. Warren's drone program conducts its training only within its base, which is located just west of Cheyenne.

In Monday's report, the Colorado Department of Public Safety detailed some of the findings of its investigation into the mysterious drone sightings.

From Nov. 23 to Jan. 13, the Colorado Information Analysis Center received 90 reports of drone activity. Of these, law enforcement confirmed that 14 were hobbyist drones and there were zero confirmed instances of illegal drone activity. However, none of these hobbyist drones fit the description of drones with large wingspans traveling in groups.

On Jan. 10, there was a report of a drone in close proximity to a Flight for Life helicopter. After investigators spoke with Flight for Life, they determined the incident was not related to the other "suspicious" drone activity.

"Unfortunately, this type of drone incursion is an all-too-frequent event with medical helicopters and serves as an important reminder to drone operators to follow FAA operations guidance," the report read.

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During field investigations Jan. 6-13, the team received 23 drone activity reports. Thirteen were determined to be planets, stars or small hobbyist drones. Six turned out to be "atmospheric conditions" or were identified as commercial aircraft. Four were confirmed by law enforcement but were not identified.

Team members from the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the Division of Fire Prevention and Control and Colorado State Patrol assisted the Department of Public safety in the investigation.

Colorado has more than 24,000 registered professional and hobby drone pilots, and drone sightings are a common occurrence in Colorado and across the country.

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The FAA receives more than 100 reports of drone sightings per month from pilots. More than 2,200 sightings were reported to the FAA in Colorado in 2018.

Though the investigation into the mysterious drone sightings is being scaled back, the Department of Public Safety said it will continue to investigate reports of suspicious activity.

The FAA publishes drone sighting reports from pilots at https://www.faa.gov/uas/resources/public_records/uas_sightings_report.

The public can continue to submit reports of suspicious activity through an online form: https://ciacco.org/default.aspx?menuitemid=1095.