DART - Drug Abatement Response Team
What is DART?
A collaboration between Local Police, Municipal, State Agencies, and the Prosecuting Attorney whose mission is to identify and permanently shut down drug houses and street level narcotics operations.
What we do:
- Prosecute property owners that are repeat offenders by filing civil forfeitures or nuisance actions against the properties.
- Educate landlords of the warning signs of drugs, drug paraphernalia, and the process of methamphetamine manufacturing and assist those landlords in establishing properties that meet stringent ant-drug environment settings.
- Assist individual citizens and neighborhood groups to identify and target problem properties. DART also seeks to increase community involvement to restore the quality of life within the community.
- Partner with governmental entities to develop ordinances and codes which will enable individual municipalities within Jackson County to take independent measures to close drug houses.
- Provides services to business owners including: continuing to identify and monitor businesses that sell essential ingredients used in manufacturing methamphetamine to define what items may be legally sold.
- Focus on problem businesses to stop the flow of illegal narcotics through area hotels and motels by conducting inspections on those businesses that have a history of illegal drug and prostitution activities. Educating management through a hotel training session.
Who to contact if you suspect a drug house?
If you suspect a property is being used for the sale or distribution of drugs, you may contact DART during business hours at (816) 881-3883. You may remain anonymous when making the report. You may also make a report to your local Police Agency:
- Kansas City Police Department: (816) 234-5000
- Independence Police Department: (816) 325-7300
- Raytown Police Department: (816) 737-6016
- Grandview Police Department: (816) 316-4985
- Blue Springs Police Department: (816) 228-0150
- Lee's Summit Police Department: (816) 524-4300
- Sugar Creek Police Department: (816) 252-7058
- Jackson County Drug Task Force: (816) 655-3784
- Jackson County Sheriff's Department: (816) 881-3491
- Grain Valley Police Department: (816) 847-6250
Who to contact about training:
- Hotel/Motel Training: (816) 881-3883
- Landlord Training: (816) 881-3857
- DART has partnered with the Division of Aging to provide resources when we find elderly citizens in drug environments.
- DART works closely with the Division of Family Services (DFS) in identifying, assessing, and monitoring children found in drug houses. Routinely DFS provides a case worker who is able to remove children if necessary for their safety.
- Some of the properties that DART comes into contact with are Section 8 housing. Section 8 rules provide that if anyone is caught with drugs they will be terminated from section 8. Routinely, Dart provides evidence at Section 8 hearings about discovered drug activity. DART assists H.U.D. in monitoring their clients for compliance in housing.
DART is funded by COMBAT and a state grant through the Department of Public Safety.
