Police swarmed a makeshift homeless camp in front of a government building on North Beach Street in Daytona Beach Friday.

The dozens of homeless people have been camping out in front of the Volusia County Administration building for weeks.  Suddenly, at 6 p.m. police corralled them to the Salvation Army.

Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood says they finally, legally, got the go ahead and that’s why it happened so quickly.

The one person who refused to leave was arrested.

Chitwood says he has had officers embedded in the homeless camp for the last several weeks and they came back with frightening Intel on what was going on.

 “Basically when the sun went down, this turned into a crime area. People shooting dope up in the bathrooms, selling dope, drunk, domestic disturbances, fights, prostitution. And from a public safety point of view, I couldn’t move till we got the beds,” said Chitwood.

The chief is referring to an ordinance, which says that they have to have enough beds for everyone in order to make them move.

And, as of Friday evening, they had 82.

But, homeless advocate Michael Pastore has a distinctly different view of the situation.

 “Temporary hotel rooms do not constitute available shelter beds. This isn’t over,” said Pastore. “They don’t want to have this here for the national media, for the races.”

Police loaded up the blankets, chairs and personal belongings, and began carting them to the Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army recently opened an emergency homeless shelter to take in 46 people, but that wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t until Friday night that they were able to provide beds for all those camped out.

 “The politicians and the powers that be, they need to realize that this is a short term fix,” said Chitwood.

Chitwood says he’s been in Daytona Beach for 10 years and can’t remember the number of homeless summits he’s been to and plans he’s seen. When the rubber meets the road, he says, permanent plans have failed.

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