DART Program

Drug Addiction Response Team (DART)

This team's goal is to focus on collaboration to identify, educate, treat, and prevent further instances of opioid abuse, addiction, and fatalities within our community.  

In July 2018, the Clinton Police Department received a two-year Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program grant for $500,000. The Clinton Police Department received $20,800 of this grant for their operations.

In late November 2018, a multi-disciplinary team was created with personnel from Gateway Impact Coalition, Mercy One Medical Center, Area Substance Abuse Council (ASAC), Bridgeview Community Mental Health Center, Clinton Fire Department (CFD), and the Clinton Police Department (CPD).  

In 2022, Eastern Iowa Mental Health, Life Connections Mental Health Services, Life Connections Peer Support in Dewitt, and Rhonda’s House in Dewitt were added as partners to provide more services to those seeking recovery in our community.  

Officers use #DART when responding to DART related calls, and in 2022 the Police Department documented 87 DART calls in regular calls for service. These calls provided interactions with 184 individuals. These calls do not include the outreach events that are held twice a month.  These events include DART outreach events at Clinton Park and Information Referral and Services. DART serves food and provides information for those seeking treatment for substance and mental health issues.  

The Police Department received a donation of food from Hy-Vee to continue our outreach events during the winter months.  The Department was able to participate in the Thanksgiving celebration provided by the Victory Center, The Mardi Gras Parade, and various other public events in our community.  

The DART program continues to provide education to our local law enforcement officers. In the upcoming year we have plans in place to conduct outreach events where officers and peer support specialists actively find subjects in active addiction and offer services to them in the field.  We are also working with ASAC to provide local law enforcement and first responders in our county with addiction training and NARCAN training.