diff --git a/frigate/util/downloader.py b/frigate/util/downloader.py
index 18c577fb0..49b05dd05 100644
--- a/frigate/util/downloader.py
+++ b/frigate/util/downloader.py
@@ -51,12 +51,14 @@ class ModelDownloader:
         download_path: str,
         file_names: List[str],
         download_func: Callable[[str], None],
+        complete_func: Callable[[], None] | None = None,
         silent: bool = False,
     ):
         self.model_name = model_name
         self.download_path = download_path
         self.file_names = file_names
         self.download_func = download_func
+        self.complete_func = complete_func
         self.silent = silent
         self.requestor = InterProcessRequestor()
         self.download_thread = None
@@ -97,6 +99,9 @@ class ModelDownloader:
                 },
             )
 
+        if self.complete_func:
+            self.complete_func()
+
         self.requestor.stop()
         self.download_complete.set()
 
diff --git a/frigate/util/model.py b/frigate/util/model.py
index 106815b96..aeffd006a 100644
--- a/frigate/util/model.py
+++ b/frigate/util/model.py
@@ -169,19 +169,21 @@ class FaceClassificationModel:
         self.face_recognizer: cv2.face.LBPHFaceRecognizer = None
 
         download_path = os.path.join(MODEL_CACHE_DIR, "facedet")
-        model_files = ["facedet.onnx", "landmarkdet.yaml"]
-        self.model_urls = [
-            "https://github.com/NickM-27/facenet-onnx/releases/download/v1.0/facedet.onnx",
-            "https://github.com/NickM-27/facenet-onnx/releases/download/v1.0/landmarkdet.yaml",
-        ]
+        self.model_files = {
+            "facedet.onnx": "https://github.com/NickM-27/facenet-onnx/releases/download/v1.0/facedet.onnx",
+            "landmarkdet.yaml": "https://github.com/NickM-27/facenet-onnx/releases/download/v1.0/landmarkdet.yaml",
+        }
 
-        if not all(os.path.exists(os.path.join(download_path, n)) for n in model_files):
-            logger.debug(f"starting model download for {self.model_name}")
+        if not all(
+            os.path.exists(os.path.join(download_path, n))
+            for n in self.model_files.keys()
+        ):
             self.downloader = ModelDownloader(
-                model_name="facedet.onnx",
+                model_name="facedet",
                 download_path=download_path,
-                file_names=model_files,
+                file_names=self.model_files.keys(),
                 download_func=self.__download_models,
+                complete_func=self.__build_detector,
             )
             self.downloader.ensure_model_files()
         else:
@@ -193,9 +195,9 @@ class FaceClassificationModel:
     def __download_models(self, path: str) -> None:
         try:
             file_name = os.path.basename(path)
-            ModelDownloader.download_from_url(self.model_urls[file_name], path)
-        except Exception:
-            pass
+            ModelDownloader.download_from_url(self.model_files[file_name], path)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.error(f"Failed to download {path}: {e}")
 
     def __build_detector(self) -> None:
         self.face_detector = cv2.FaceDetectorYN.create(
@@ -209,6 +211,9 @@ class FaceClassificationModel:
         self.landmark_detector.loadModel("/config/model_cache/facedet/landmarkdet.yaml")
 
     def __build_classifier(self) -> None:
+        if not self.landmark_detector:
+            return None
+
         labels = []
         faces = []