Thursday marks one year since mysterious drones lit up the sky in New Jersey, but law enforcement agencies are still responding to the craze.

"There's speculation. Was it a military company? Was it a contracted company for the military?" Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden questioned.

At the time, the White House said the drones were part of a research project, but that did little to calm the hysteria.

Golden told News 12 his county and agencies statewide have been pushing for funds to better detect drone activity since the sightings began.

Several elected officials have jumped into the fray as well, like Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ). He introduced the Law Against Nefarious Drones, Enforcement, Deconfliction (LANDED) Act last year.

FULL COVERAGE: Drones Over New Jersey

According to Smith's office the bill would, "empower highly trained state law enforcement units to detect and stop any drones involved in unlawful activities."

"Not only is there money for drone detection equipment, which we are in dire need of locally, but there's also deconfliction. So, if there are federal agencies or state agencies and county agencies like ours, we'll be able to identify those easily and deconflict," Sheriff Golden said of the proposed bill.

A federal grant for detection technology is now up for grabs as well.

"We need to have more laws in place, even if it's on the state level, and I do believe every state police should have mitigation efforts in case we have to take a drone down," Golden said.

However, not all drones are targets.

As technology improves, more first responders are beginning to use these eyes in the sky to help save lives.

"We're not far off from seeing a drone take off and get to a 911 call before law enforcement partners do," Golden told News 12.