Protected before the first bell, and after.
Steadfast Schools turns every camera, sensor, and door on campus into an early warning. AI spots weapons, vehicles, intruders, fights, smoke, and vaping, and a trained analyst checks every alert in seconds. So a threat gets caught in the parking lot, not at the front door, 24 hours a day.
Your campus has three shifts.
We cover every one.
Most incidents don't wait for the school day. The same analysts and the same playbooks stay on watch from the empty lot at dawn to the empty hallway at midnight. Here's what a single day can look like.
- 1
An unknown car idles for 20 minutes in the bus loop. The plate is logged and the principal gets a heads-up.
- 2
A visitor under a trespass order rings the vestibule. The door stays locked and the SRO is alerted.
- 3
Fight detected in the cafeteria. The nearest staff are paged with live video.
- 4
Vape index spikes in a B-hall restroom. The assistant principal gets the hallway camera clip.
- 5
Water leak in the gym locker room. Facilities is called before the floor floods.
- 6
Someone climbs the ball-field fence. An AI warning, a live talk-down, and police on the way.
School safety that sees it coming.
Cameras record. Steadfast responds. We connect your cameras, sensors, and doors to AI detection and a 24/7 operations center, so a real threat gets a real person's attention in seconds.
Weapon detection & plate recognition
Spot a visible firearm in the parking lot and flagged vehicles at the gate, before anyone reaches the front door.
Parking lots & perimeterSafety sensors & vape detection
Sensors catch vaping, fights, smoke, leaks, and overheating in restrooms, locker rooms, and server rooms, with no cameras.
Safety sensors24/7 analyst verification
A trained analyst confirms every alert on live video before anyone is sent, so staff respond to real events.
How it worksVisitor ID & front entry
Visitors ring the doorbell and show ID before the door opens. Every visit logged, and flagged visitors stay outside.
Visitor IDAfter hours & overnight
Fence climbers, break-ins, smoke, leaks, and overheating server rooms, caught while the building is empty.
The other 16 hoursPrivacy by design
District-owned data, retention you set, approved watchlists only, and every video look logged for audit.
Our commitmentsAI notices. People decide.
The AI watches every feed and sensor at once, which no person can do. A trained analyst checks every alert, which no AI should skip. Then your plan takes over.
Detect
AI and sensors on Verkada and Ubiquiti UniFi, plus dedicated firearm detection.
- Weapons, plates, people, behavior
- Smoke, vape, sound, temperature
- Doors, panic buttons, device health
Verify
A Steadfast analyst in our 24/7 operations center reviews the live video and sensor data.
- Real threat or false alarm?
- Who, where, which way
- Camera-to-camera tracking
Respond
Your district's playbook runs: who gets called, what they see, what locks.
- Sirens and live talk-down
- Lockdown and door control
- SRO, admins, staff paged
- 911 with verified details
The car wasn't on a list.
The rifle was enough.
Not every threat comes from someone already flagged. A car that has never been seen before won't trip a hotlist, but a visible rifle trips AI weapon detection the moment it leaves the vehicle. That puts the alert, the lockdown, and the 911 call ahead of the threat instead of behind it.
- logged
A car pulls into the east lot. The plate is read and logged. It isn't on any hotlist, so there's no alert. That's normal.
- detect
The driver steps out carrying a rifle. AI weapon detection flags it on the parking-lot camera.
- verify
A Steadfast analyst confirms the weapon on live video. Not a false alarm.
- deter
Sirens sound across the lot, and the analyst gives live commands over the parking-lot speakers: police are on the way.
- respond
Exterior doors lock. The front office, SRO, and principal get an alert with a photo and location.
- respond
911 gets a verified report: the weapon, a description, the vehicle and plate, and direction of travel.
- track
Analysts follow the person camera to camera and send live video to responding units.
- on scene
Officers arrive and the analyst guides them to the east lot with the person's last known location.
- resolved
The person is detained in the parking lot. No one is hurt, and nobody got through the front door.
- all clear
The lockdown is lifted. Families are notified and the district gets a full incident report with video.
Illustrative scenario. AI weapon detection identifies firearms visible to a camera; it cannot see concealed weapons. Timing depends on camera placement, configuration, and your district's approved response plan.
Officers arrive informed, not blind.
A verified call with the description, location, weapon, vehicle, and plate. Live video and camera-to-camera tracking while officers are en route. Door and lockdown status before they reach the entrance. Shared only during incidents, under rules your district sets.
Before dispatch
An analyst confirms the threat on video, so the call is real, specific, and fast.
En route
Live updates as analysts track the person camera to camera across campus.
On scene
Which doors are locked, where the person was last seen, and what's behind the next door.
Safety your board and parents can stand behind.
Powerful tools need clear rules. Every Steadfast program starts with written policy your district controls.
- Your data stays yours. Footage, plate reads, sensor data, and logs belong to the district.
- Retention you set. Records are kept only as long as your policy says, then deleted.
- District-approved watchlists only. No general scanning of students or staff.
- Private spaces stay private. Sensors only, no cameras, no recordings.
- Every look is logged. Video access and searches are recorded for audit.
- Built to support FERPA and state privacy and records rules.
Built by people who answer the call.
Freedom Tech's CEO and its President & CTO both serve with the Harnett County Sheriff's Office: Leo as a criminal investigator, Matt as a deputy and field training officer. That experience shapes how we write response playbooks and what we hand to first responders.
Protected before the first bell, and after.
Our free guide to proactive campus safety, with a letter from our founders, stories from a Steadfast campus, and tools you can use with your team this week.
- A 24-point campus safety self-check
- Benefits for leaders, SROs, staff, and families
- 10 questions to ask any school-safety vendor
Straight answers.
What is Steadfast Schools?
Steadfast Schools is a 24/7 monitored school safety program from Freedom Tech. We connect the cameras, sensors, doors, and alarms on your campus to AI detection and a staffed operations center. A trained analyst verifies every alert in seconds, then your district's response plan takes over: lockdown, staff, SRO, and 911 with verified details.
Does Steadfast replace our SRO, security staff, or front office?
No. Steadfast gives the people already on your campus earlier, verified information so they can act faster. Analysts watch every feed at once, which no person on site can do, and hand your team a clear picture: what, where, and which way.
How fast does an analyst see an alert?
Alerts reach an analyst within seconds; about five seconds from detection to review is typical. Actual timing depends on camera placement, configuration, and your district's approved response plan, which we set up together.
Can we keep our existing cameras?
Often, yes. We work with what you already have where we can and fill the gaps where you need it. Steadfast is built on Verkada and Ubiquiti UniFi cameras, sensors, alarms, and access control, with specialist add-ons for firearm, gunshot, and THC detection. Your campus assessment shows what can stay and what would help.
Can Steadfast talk to a trespasser or sound an alarm?
Yes. Analysts can speak directly to someone on campus through speakers on your lots, fields, and entrances, and set off sirens and strobes. After hours, AI can play an automated warning the moment someone climbs a fence or lingers by a door. When each is used follows your district's approved response plan.
Can AI weapon detection see concealed weapons?
No. AI weapon detection identifies firearms that are visible to a camera, such as a rifle carried across a parking lot. It cannot see weapons under clothing or in bags. That's why Steadfast layers it with plate recognition, entry controls, panic buttons, and trained people.
Do you put cameras in restrooms or locker rooms?
Never. Restrooms, locker rooms, and changing areas get sensors only. They measure air quality, smoke, vape, sound level, temperature, and tamper. Sound sensors measure loudness, not words, and audio recording is turned off in private spaces.
Who owns the video and data?
Your district does. Footage, plate reads, sensor data, and logs belong to the district and are kept only as long as your policy says. Every video view and search is logged for audit.
How do we get started?
Request a no-cost campus safety assessment. We walk your campus with you, review your cameras, doors, sensors, network, and current plans, and design a layered plan sized to your budget. Then we install, train your team, and go live in our operations center.
Can E-Rate help pay for Steadfast?
E-Rate doesn't cover cameras, sensors, access control, or monitoring. It can cover much of the network those systems run on: Category Two funding helps pay for internal connections like Wi-Fi, switches, and cabling. We can help you plan a project so the network side fits your E-Rate budget and timeline and the safety side is funded separately. Learn how Category Two works.
Find the gaps before someone else does.
Book a no-cost campus safety assessment. We'll walk your site, review your current systems, and show you where 24/7 monitoring would make the biggest difference.