Times Review editorial: What’s up with the drones?

As community journalists, the most important part of our job is to do our utmost to ensure we provide accurate information — because a well-informed community is better able to make well-informed decisions. (We hope.)

Here at Times Review decisions about which news items to publish are often based on what we can confirm or debunk with our own reporting. We hear a tip, dig around, check reliable sources, and only then do we relay the message. We are committed to concrete journalism; not engaging in speculation for click-bait’s sake.

Enter nuclear-waste-sniffing drones flying under the cover of darkness all along the East Coast. No, wait; they’re searching for bombs, possibly dirty bombs. But someone else said they saw one the size of a mini-van and it was clearly a third-party, independent contractor conducting tests for the Department of Defense. Actually, it’s the government inciting hysteria to make us look up while they do something nefarious on the ground — but only in New Jersey. Then why are we seeing them on the North Fork? Or are we?

Aside from the incessant speculation on social media — including the real-world examples above — here’s what we do know: not much.

Southold Police Chief Steven Grattan said in a phone interview Tuesday that residents and police officers reported sightings of sedan-sized drones in Orient, Mattituck, Cutchogue and Southold on Dec. 13 and 14 that appeared to be flying in a zig-zag pattern.

According to this report, “[Suffolk County Police Department] personnel observed drones [that] appeared to be flying in a zigzag-style pattern near Route 48 and Route 25 in the Mattituck, Cutchogue and Southold areas.”

He added that all reported drone sightings are forwarded by Southold police to the New York State Office of Counter Terrorism, Homeland Security and the SCPD. The latter stated this week that “Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine and the SCPD are working closely together along with our state and federal law enforcement partners to monitor the situation in real time.”

More than 5,000 drone sightings have been reported across the Northeast since mid-November, prompting a joint statement this week from the departments of Homeland Security and Defense, the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration saying that there are “more than one million drones lawfully registered with the FAA in the United States … Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and stars mistakenly reported as drones. We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the Northeast.”

That strikes us as a whole lot of words that don’t say a whole lot.

But whether government officials know more than they’re saying or don’t really know much at all, we will resist the temptation to “read between the lines” for hidden truths and instead stick with concrete advice from a reliable source: “I would encourage residents to continue to call if they observe suspicious drone activity,” Chief Grattan said.

And rest assured, if and when we do find out the truth — and the truth will out — you’ll be the first to know.