As more suspicious drone sightings were reported in Massachusetts this weekend, government officials said there’s no evidence drones flying in the Northeast in recent weeks are criminal or dangerous.
“We have not identified any basis for believing that there’s any criminal activity involved, that there’s any national security threat, that there’s any public safety threat, or that any malicious foreign actor is involved,” a National Security Council official told reporters Saturday afternoon.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, in a social media post Saturday, said the state was “monitoring the situation closely,” adding that drone operators should “adhere to all applicable laws, regulations, and appropriate operating procedures.”
Massachusetts State Police are “prepared to support federal authorities with jurisdiction over airspace,” Healey wrote.
A State Police spokesperson said Friday that the agency, while aware of various sightings, was not currently investigating any reports. State Police deferred further comment to the Federal Aviation Administration, as did officials at the Massachusetts Air National Guard base in Westfield.
The FAA has declined to comment on specific sightings, but a spokesperson said the agency looks into all reports of unauthorized drone operations, investigating “when appropriate,” noting that recreational drone pilots typically don’t need special permission to fly in unrestricted airspace.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told reporters at an event on Saturday that she had been in touch with Boston police about the drone sightings, according to video from WHDH-TV.
“We have not had any reports so far but encourage everyone to reach out about any concerns that they have, as always,” she said.
Since November, authorities have received thousands of calls reporting mysterious drone sightings from New Jersey to Maine. In Massachusetts, reports of flying objects in the skies have increased since Thursday, coming from Brookline, Weston, and across Cape Cod.
Brookline resident Jennifer Wofford said she spotted three to four large drones circling above Brookline High School and Cypress Field around 8 p.m. Friday before they zigzagged around an approximately 10-block radius, flashing red and green lights.
“It wasn’t brief. It wasn’t like, just once and it went away. It was about an hour and a half, 8 to 9:30,” Wofford said Saturday.
She said she called the Brookline Police Department, which referred her to the FAA.
According to Brookline police spokesperson David Hill, officers received one call on Friday evening reporting a single large drone above Cypress Field. “Responding officers were unable to locate it and did not observe anything in the area,” Hill wrote in an email Saturday.
On Thursday evening, a woman reported 10 to 15 drones hovering near a home in Harwich, hours after an off-duty police officer spotted a similar swarm near a public safety complex. That same evening, an Easthampton resident filmed two lights apparently hovering near each other, WWLP-TV reported.
An Easthampton police spokesperson told the Globe on Friday that the department had not received any reports of drones or unidentified flying objects in the area.
Residents in Weston, South Yarmouth, and Barnstable have also observed mysterious drones overhead since Friday, the Boston Herald reported.
The Boston FBI declined to comment on the sightings.
An FBI official said Saturday that authorities have received more than 5,000 reports through a national tip line for drone sightings, adding that the FBI has deemed fewer than 100 of them “worthy of further investigation.”
Most sightings are lawful manned aircraft, the official said.
Following the increase in sightings, the FAA published an online resource guide with drone regulations, which says people are allowed to fly drones in most areas within 400 feet of the ground.
Camilo Fonseca of the Globe staff contributed reporting.