How police are keeping everyone safe over Memorial Day weekend

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Memorial Day weekend can sometimes be considered the unofficial start to summer (that's June 21), which means large crowds head to Central Florida's beaches.

No surprise, Daytona Beach was packed with people on Sunday.

"I love Daytona Beach. It's really nice out here," said Kenys Rodriguez, who was visiting from Orlando.

Families gathered together to swim, eat, and play.

"We've been splashing around a lot, building some sandcastles, and we got some metal detectors, so the kids are trying to find treasure," said Stefanie Steele, who was also visiting from Orlando.

On top of the weekend fun, others came to the area for graduations, concerts, and other special events.

In order to keep everyone safe, Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said every officer in the department was working over the weekend, which meant canceling PTO and vacation requests. 

"This is the first year we've actually brought in the entire agency. So we ended up canceling all days off to ensure we have enough staffing to address any issues that may pop-up," he said.

Volusia County Beach Patrol said it, too, called a ill of its staff in for the busy weekend. As of Sunday morning, no major issues have been reported.

"All the events went off smoothly. It was the Orlando Invades event that happens every year. The crowd was here, it was a large crowd, they were all very well-behaved, had a very good time, our officers had a great time interacting with them, so everything went well," said Chief Andy Ethridge.

Police were visible from the air, the ground, and the water with people patrolling all over. 

"Deputies everywhere, lifeguards everywhere, they were practicing this morning, too," Rodriguez said. "So safety looks like it's good."