Terrorists and criminals are out there, and so are local law enforcement like the Fort Myers Police Department. With the Festival of Light Parade set to kick off this weekend, safety is at the top of their mind.
Thousands of people are expected to watch and take part in the parade.
"I wouldn't come down here if I didn't feel that way very safe," said Joanne Rosser, a Fort Myers resident.
Joanne went to the Edison Festival of Light parade last year. She knows how big the event is.
"I've never had a concern. There is a lot of police around always. There's a lot of barricades up always," she added.
The parade features local marching bands, floats and community groups. When speaking to people around downtown Fort Myers on Thursday, people told Gulf Coast News that they are still worried about the New Orleans attack on New Year's.
"It's a small area, so you know if there was somebody that would do something like this, they could do a lot of damage in a small area just as bad as New Orleans," said Terry Murphy.
"We live in a world where we have to think about these things," said John Taylor, the co-chair of the event.
His faith in local law enforcement is high.
"There are things behind the scenes that we don't even know about that are happening for our protection, and I have 100 percent confidence in them," Taylor said.
Gulf Coast News asked Fort Myers police if they changed any safety plans because of what happened in New Orleans. Lt. Gloria Camacho says they trust their protocols.
"Some things that we've done is we use our Meridian barricades that we have either downtown or just outside of downtown in order to block some of our larger streets, that specifically is to impede a vehicle from coming towards the crowd," Camacho said.
Police are prepared for anything, no matter the case, to keep visitors safe.
"I think the secret behind it is that, well, maybe you don't know what what's going on or what we did," Camacho told NBC2.
"These guys put their life on the line every day for these people, so yeah, I'm behind them 100 percent," Murphy said.