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2025 Iowa D.A.R.E. Officer Association Conference Registration

“DARE to make a difference”

July 21st-22nd, 2025                             Dubuque, Iowa

Monday Night Room Reservations can be made now at the Hilton Garden Inn.

 Each person can enter the date of their arrival and make their own reservation and guarantee their room with a credit card for incidentals.  Room and tax will be routed to a master account since rooms are being paid for.  

https://www.hilton.com/en/book/reservation/deeplink/?ctyhocn=DBQDTGI&groupCode=IDO&arrivaldate=2025-07-21&departuredate=2025-07-22&cid=OM,WW,HILTONLINK,EN,DirectLink&fromId=HILTONLINKDIRECT

2025 Iowa D.A.R.E. Officer Association Conference Registration

“DARE to make a difference”

July 21-22, 2025, Dubuque, IA


Hotel: Hilton Garden Inn 1801 Greyhound Park Rd Dubuque, Iowa 52001

Conference Venue: Q Casino and Resort 1855 Greyhound Park Rd Dubuque, Iowa 52001


D.A.R.E. Iowa will pay for one night of accommodations for all Iowa D.A.R.E. Officers that attend the conference. Please call the Hilton Garden Inn at 563-585-5200, or there is a link on the DARE Iowa website, to make your own reservations under the group block DARE Iowa. If you are traveling over 3 plus hours out and would like a room Sunday night before the conference, DARE Iowa may pay for your room, just reach out to Terry Dehmlow at iacop2@mchsi.com or 319-269-4101 to request Sunday Lodging.

Also next to the conference here is a link for things to do close to the conference: www.islandsocial.com

Monday for lunch, will be provided to all registered Iowa Dare Officers paid by the IDOA. Chicken, beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, macaroni salad, broccoli salad buffet. 

Guest for Monday is $24

Tuesday for lunch, will be provided to all registered Iowa Dare Officers paid by the IDOA. Build your own sandwich buffet.

Guest for Tuesday is $24

Guest meal payments can be made at the same time.

Please complete and return this registration form to Gary Bellinghausen at gbellinghausen@cityofcarroll.com or mail your registrations to the Carroll Police Department C/O Gary Bellinghausen 112 E 5th, Carroll, Iowa 51401. *PLEASE COMPLETE AND RETURN 2 WEEKS PRIOR TO CONFRENCE*

Name:

Agency:

Phone Number:

I will be staying at the Hilton Garden Inn   Yes______     No_______

I will be attending Mondy’s lunch Banquet Yes_____ No_______

                I will have _________ guests for dinner at $24/person

I will be having lunch Tuesday  Yes________   No_______

                I will have __________ guests Tuesday for lunch at $24/person

                PLEASE ADVISE OF ANY SPECIAL DIETARY RESTRICTIONS


Conference Agenda

Monday July 21

10:30 - 10:45: Honor Guard, National Anthem, Mayor and Chief remarks

10:45 – 11:45: Terry with updates, John with educational updates and motivational time

11:45-12:30:     Regional and full group meeting

                                Nominations for officers at this time              

12:30 – 1:30       Lunch and awards

1:30 – 4:30         Beneath the Badge presentation

 

Tuesday July 22

8:00 – 12:00       Sheriff Infante/DCI Agent Decamp

12:00 – 12:30    DCI Agent Matt Anderson (Safe +Sound)

12:30- 1:30        Working lunch, voting for officers

1:30 -???             Hand out books


Download Registration Form HERE
Update from President Chief Millin

Dear Iowa DARE Members,

 

I am writing to inform you that the President of the Iowa DARE Officers Association, Dylan Rose, has resigned from his position.  With this vacancy, the Board of Directors has appointed me as the President for the remainder of his term.

 

Due to this unexpected vacancy, the board has assumed responsibility for organizing the 2025 DARE Conference.  After careful consideration, we have decided to relocate the conference from Webster City back to Dubuque.

 

Over the next few weeks, we will be reaching out to the scheduled conference speakers and coordinating new catering arrangements, lodging, and venue.  Once the logistics of this relocation are confirmed, we will announce the new conference location along with registration details, lodging options, and the agenda.  We remain committed to holding the conference during the week of July 20, 2025.

If you have already booked your hotel room in Webster City, that reservation will be cancelled in the coming days.  If you have already submitted a registration, or attempted to, you will need to resubmit a registration form when we announce the new conference location.

Additionally, with this vacancy, the 2nd Vice President position will be open for appointment at the conference.  This is a great opportunity for you to take a more active role in shaping the future of DARE Iowa.  We encourage you to consider stepping into this leadership role.

The IDA Board of Directors and committee look forward to leading the 2025 Iowa DARE Conference and working alongside each of you to advance our mission.  If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Best regards,
Chief Robert Millin, Mar-Mac Police Dept.

President, Iowa DARE Officers Association
rmillin@marmacpolice.org

Governor Reynolds Proclamation for D.A.R.E. Day in IOWA

Hello Iowa DARE Officers,                            Past President Jason Hoerner


I know you all thought, and probably relieved, that you were done getting messages from me, but I just wanted to send out one more message to all of you now that the 2024 conference is over and I’ve had some time to reflect on all of it. First of all, I want to thank all of you that were able to attend and made the conference a huge success. I know it’s not easy to schedule the time to be away during your busy summer schedules when there are vacations to be taken, ball games, and staffing issues at work. I hope you were able to take away something from the presentations that we had to help yourself be better whether it’s at home or at work. We all have important roles to countless people out there and a lot of students that look up to us even if we don’t realize it and that’s why the relationships that we build are so vital to what we do. We have to take care of ourselves so we can be the best we can for those that need us.


I don’t know how many times that the different speakers that presented to us would thank me for having them come to our conference and were so happy and grateful for being able to speak to our group. Even as Molly and John were on their way home to Tennessee and Florida, they kept texting to thank me for the opportunity and wanted me to pass that on to all of you.


There are a lot of moving parts and pieces of the puzzle to put together when planning a conference, but I do have to say it was a great experience and I encourage you to seriously consider taking on that role at some point. I thought I already knew a lot about my community, but I learned so much more than I already knew. I made so many new contacts and learned about many different resources that I had no idea existed. I knew we had a lot of support out there, but as I was meeting with so many different people and organizations, I was amazed by the amount of support we really do have, not just law enforcement in general, but the DARE program. Many of the people that I met with shared stories of when they were growing up and how important the DARE program was to them whether it was here in Dubuque or from wherever they grew up. If it wasn’t for these people and organizations that believe in us and what we do every day, much of what we saw at the conference would not have been possible.


I couldn’t have imagined the conference turning out any better than it did, so thank you for being here and being a part of it and I look forward to seeing all of you in Webster City next year. I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer, and always, stay safe out there.


Thank you,

 

Jason

Iowa DARE Officers Association

The I.D.A. (Iowa D.A.R.E. Association) was formed in the late summer of 1989 and had its first training conference for D.A.R.E. officers in the summer of 1990. It is a fraternal organization that includes D.A.R.E. officers, educators and other friends of D.A.R.E.

President:  Dylan Rose   Webster City Police Department

Vice President:  Robert Millin, Mar-Mac Police Chief

2nd Vice President: Lucas Bucknell, Waverly Police Department

Secretary:  Sara Kamm   Dubuque County Sheriff's Department

Sgt. at Arms:  

Treasurer: Gary Bellinghausen  Carroll Police Department

Past President: Jason Hoerner   Dubuque Police Department

Western Rep:  Robert McMillen, SE Rep: David Dierks, NE Rep: Rick LaGue  

 
The I.D.A. functions include planning and conducting yearly training conferences, preparing and releasing a quarterly newsletter, sending a representative to the National D.A.R.E. Officers Advisory Board and each year selecting a D.A.R.E. Officer, Educator and Volunteer of the Year. The I.D.A. also has a representative on the D.A.R.E. Iowa Board. Place your nominations for D.A.R.E. awards by submitting information to the VP of Iowa DARE Officers Association. All nominations must be received by May 1st of each year for the corresponding year.