If you haven’t heard about the thousands of mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey in recent weeks, you might be living under a rock. Or are you living under … a drone? Or several of them? Some Maricopa residents believe so. 

It’s a bird! It’s a drone! It’s a cop? Seriously, what are these things? 

The FBI, Department of Homeland Security, state police and other agencies have launched investigations into the recent torrent of inexplicable drone sightings. 

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, said Monday that there has yet to be any public safety or national security risk identified in any of the drone sightings. He said that officials believe they were lawfully flown drones, planes or stars.  

But that seemingly did little to abate UFO anxiety here on the opposite side of the country, where three reported sightings in Maricopa and Hidden Valley have been posted to the social networking site Nextdoor in as many days. 

Rancho El Dorado resident Marcus Griffin posted Sunday about his own drone sighting.  

“I will add to the HYPE: Has anyone ever paid attention to the DRONE activity around Maricopa at night?” Griffin questioned. “I live in the back of [Rancho El Dorado] adjacent to the farmer fields and I see large drones operating on a regular.”  

“I have seen lots of weird stuff in the sky but over the past few years it seems there’s been more and more paranormal activity to the point where it’s not ignorable anymore,” Nevaeh said. “A few hours [after] I recorded this, I went on TikTok, and my feed was overflowing with videos similar to mine. Of course, our phones listen to us, so maybe it was just feeding into my delusions but it’s weird how everyone else in the world is seeing or experiencing the same things!”  

The most recent post came yesterday from a Hidden Valley user who said she had for weeks been hearing about a Standfield drone group flying for several hours at night with detailed sightings.  

The user attached a screenshot sourced from the r/AskLEO (law enforcement officer) subreddit that she said might ‘explain’ the sightings.  

“Pinal County Sheriff’s Office and Eloy Police Department have added drones to patrol and run surveillance for certain investigations,” said the Reddit user u/Nervous_Comb_8047.  

InMaricopa contacted the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office to see if this was accurate.  

PCSO spokeswoman Lauren Reimer said the sheriff’s office uses drones for these specific purposes (neither surveillance nor patrol is one of them): 

• Scene documentation to record evidence from a crime scene or traffic accident from above. 

• During active SWAT incidents to monitor suspect activity around and inside a home or building where a suspect is barricaded, as well as to clear the building before, during and/or after a high-risk arrest. 

• Aerial searches to follow or search for a wanted suspect when the perimeter is known, and air support (helicopter) may be far away or unavailable.  

• Search and rescue operations when searching for missing or injured hikers, etc.  

“PCSO does not use drones for daily patrol operations,” Reimer confirmed.  

So, the next time you see a post about another drone or “orb” sighting, or you see one yourself, keep in mind it might just be PCSO trying to keep people safe. Or, hey, it could be aliens.