A Catholic school in Arkansas is taking a proactive step to protect its students by implementing artificial intelligence technology designed to detect firearms before a potential attacker can enter the building.
Trinity Catholic School in Fort Smith has partnered with the security company ZeroEyes to integrate an AI-powered gun detection platform into its existing camera system. According to EWTN News, the school is the first private school in Arkansas to adopt the technology.
Principal Zach Edwards said the decision is part of an ongoing effort to strengthen campus security. Over the past several years, the school has added controlled access points, expanded fencing, and installed school-wide security cameras. The campus spans roughly 20 acres, a size Edwards described as “large,” making comprehensive monitoring especially important.
Although the area has not experienced a local school shooting, recent tragedies weighed heavily on the school’s leadership. Edwards told EWTN News that the 2023 shooting at the Presbyterian Covenant School in Nashville and the August 2025 shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis prompted renewed urgency. “We’d already started our approach to school safety, but after those two shootings, we made it an even bigger priority,” he said, according to EWTN News.
The ZeroEyes platform works by analyzing video feeds through artificial intelligence trained on an extensive internal database of firearms. Chris Heilig, senior adviser for school safety and technology at ZeroEyes, explained to EWTN News that when the system identifies a potential weapon, it triggers an alert that is reviewed by personnel at a centralized monitoring hub.
At what Heilig described as a central “operation center,” staff members respond only when the AI flags a possible threat. The system does not involve continuous live monitoring of camera feeds. Once alerted, employees review the footage and notify law enforcement if necessary. School officials and security officers also receive alerts, and the camera system continues tracking the suspect’s movements, providing critical real-time information.
ZeroEyes launched in 2018 and now operates in 46 states. “It’s deployed on cameras across the country in 46 states,” Heilig told EWTN News. “It’s mostly in school buildings and districts. But it’s in the private sector, too, including in municipal facilities, businesses, warehouses, and health care facilities.” He added, “We’re consistently updating the database and changing our AI and how it detects guns. It’s constantly evolving every day,” according to EWTN News.
For Trinity Catholic School, the investment reflects a broader commitment to safeguarding students entrusted to its care. “I hope more Catholic schools in U.S. have the opportunity to invest in this kind of security,” Edwards said. “It’s time. We need it,” according to EWTN News.
As Catholic schools across the country balance faith formation with practical safety concerns, Trinity’s adoption of AI-driven detection signals a growing willingness to embrace emerging technology in the service of protecting life.
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