Narrative:

I was near [an] event. I was more than 100 feet away from any person(s) in an isolated area; west of the main street; by railroad tracks; for my 3rd flight of the day; when the local law enforcement officer (leo) approached me and said the state police had a tfr over the area. The uas was directly overhead of me. I had an operating aviation band radio tuned to roc tower. I landed immediately and curtailed by flight activities.my two previous flights in the nearby area were at least that distance away from people; both in isolated areas for takeoff and landing. I immediately re-verified that there was no tfr by; a: airmap.io app on my phone; B: FAA tfr website and; C: calling 1800-wxbrief and talking to a briefer. I had previously checked for tfrs on the tfr.faa.gov site. I eventually found and talked to a state police leo at the [event] and he didn't know of any tfr. He said there may be a state police drone around that might be used; if needed. He gave me a phone number of the (local) state police office. I contacted them. They needed time to look into it. While waiting; I approached two other local leos and informed them of what the original leo said. They didn't know of any tfr. They did mention that they knew of the state police drone and that if it was used; it launched on an upper floor of a nearby office building. They contacted their superior and while on the phone with him; they learned of my contact with the local state police office. They were unable to resolve this. A bit later; I received a call back from the state police office. I was told that there was a state police drone on location; and if flown was operated by a state police officer. I was told that they had contacted the northeast FAA (?) regional office. I was told that he said because the state police had a drone in this area (not withstanding it was not airborne); that I could not fly within 5 miles; due to something called like; the 'FAA drone safety act' (?); which I cannot find any reference to. That if I were flying my drone and then they wanted to fly; I would be interfering with them. Something about they (state police) owning the sky. I was also told that if they saw me flying near there; during the [event] time; they would only take my information and turn it over to the FAA. I have checked the 1800wxbrief.com; uas operating map for the area and there is no uas NOTAM filed by the state police; only the usual ones that; I presume; by the syracuse area military of over 60NM radius. There aren't any local (county; city; village) drone laws for the area that I know of. To conclude; I don't know what law they are referring to about interfering with leos and what right leos have over part 107 operators when the leo uav is not airborne and the leo haven't even filed a NOTAM for a scheduled event. I am well aware of the FAA's position of not interfering with an active leo operation. I do not believe one was active at the time. It took me quite a while to track down the state police leo on scene. However; I am filing this NASA report; just in case.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Drone operator reported being informed by a local law enforcement officer that the State police had TFR in effect; however; the operator could not source any publication of the TFR from neither NOTAMs; nor a weather briefer.

Narrative: I was near [an] event. I was more than 100 feet away from any person(s) in an isolated area; west of the main street; by railroad tracks; for my 3rd flight of the day; when the local Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) approached me and said the State Police had a TFR over the area. The UAS was directly overhead of me. I had an operating aviation band radio tuned to ROC Tower. I landed immediately and curtailed by flight activities.My two previous flights in the nearby area were at least that distance away from people; both in isolated areas for takeoff and landing. I immediately re-verified that there was no TFR by; A: Airmap.IO app on my phone; B: FAA TFR website and; C: calling 1800-WXBRIEF and talking to a Briefer. I had previously checked for TFRs on the tfr.faa.gov site. I eventually found and talked to a State Police LEO at the [event] and he didn't know of any TFR. He said there may be a State Police Drone around that might be used; if needed. He gave me a phone number of the (local) State Police office. I contacted them. They needed time to look into it. While waiting; I approached two other local LEOs and informed them of what the original LEO said. They didn't know of any TFR. They did mention that they knew of the State Police Drone and that if it was used; it launched on an upper floor of a nearby office building. They contacted their superior and while on the phone with him; they learned of my contact with the local State Police office. They were unable to resolve this. A bit later; I received a call back from the State Police office. I was told that there was a State Police drone on location; and if flown was operated by a State Police officer. I was told that they had contacted the NE FAA (?) regional office. I was told that he said because the State Police had a drone in this area (not withstanding it was not airborne); that I could not fly within 5 miles; due to something called like; the 'FAA Drone Safety act' (?); which I cannot find any reference to. That if I were flying my drone and then they wanted to fly; I would be interfering with them. Something about they (State Police) owning the sky. I was also told that if they saw me flying near there; during the [event] time; they would only take my information and turn it over to the FAA. I have checked the 1800wxbrief.com; UAS operating map for the area and there is no UAS NOTAM filed by the State Police; only the usual ones that; I presume; by the Syracuse area military of over 60NM radius. There aren't any local (county; city; village) drone laws for the area that I know of. To conclude; I don't know what law they are referring to about interfering with LEOs and what right LEOs have over Part 107 operators when the LEO UAV is not airborne and the LEO haven't even filed a NOTAM for a scheduled event. I am well aware of the FAA's position of not interfering with an active LEO operation. I do not believe one was active at the time. It took me quite a while to track down the State Police LEO on scene. However; I am filing this NASA report; just in case.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.