By Aaron Botts
I did not come into law enforcement with a background that looked like a future D.U.I. or drug impairment specialist.
I did not grow up in a law enforcement family. I did not grow up around lawyers or people in the criminal justice world. I am not a toxicologist. I am not a scientist by training. Before law enforcement, my life did not point in an obvious straight line to where I am now.
My pre-law enforcement accomplishments included earning my Eagle Scout, attending public school, being a band nerd, studying music education in college, serving as an officer in my fraternity, and serving as Drum Major of the Colorado State University Marching Band. After student teaching, I realized that was not what I wanted full time. I later took a security job, and it was there that I met police officers who started me on what became my next life.
That was nearly twenty years ago.
Since then, I have served in roles I never would have predicted when I was younger. I have become a D.R.E. Instructor, Police Sergeant, Adjunct Professor in Criminal Justice, published author in law enforcement publications, author of technical documents for attorneys, and presenter at state, national, and international conferences.
I share that not to brag, but to highlight the disconnect between where I started and where I ended up. If I could build expertise from that starting point, other officers can too. This post is about the lessons that mattered most, and how you can apply them to your own path.
Start where you are and use the opportunities in front of you
My first police job was at age 22 with a suburban agency near Denver, Colorado. It was a small department of about 80 people. I credit that environment with much of my early success. In a department that size you wear many hats, you cannot always pass things off, and you learn by doing because the work still has to get done.
I was also fortunate to work in an agency that believed in continuing education and gave officers opportunities to train. A small department gave me repetitions. A training-oriented culture gave me direction.
Within about a year, my department needed an Intoxilyzer instructor. There were no volunteers, so I stepped up. That led to S.F.S.T. Instructor School and a return to teaching in a very different field than the one I studied in college. That is where the first major lesson landed.
Lesson 1: Teach something
If you want to begin the path toward expertise, teach.
Teaching forces you to learn the material at a different level. It is one thing to perform a task. It is another thing to explain it clearly, accurately, and consistently to someone else. When you teach, you are forced to relearn the material, answer tough questions, identify gaps in your own knowledge, and hold others to a standard you must also meet. Teaching creates healthy pressure, and it exposes weak points quickly.
Lesson 2: Your instructors are a resource, but verify everything
As I started teaching, I learned something important. Instructors are valuable resources, but they are not infallible. Some things commonly repeated as “true” did not hold up when checked against the written manual, current law and case law, or credible scientific research.
That shift taught me to respect experience without treating tradition as authority. Listen, learn, and benefit from others, but do your homework. “Trust, but verify” is a good standard in impaired driving enforcement. If you are going to teach it, write it, testify to it, or rely on it for an arrest decision, you need to know where it comes from and whether it is still current.
Lesson 3: If you say it, support it
This became one of my most important rules.
When teaching, anything you say should be supported by at least one of the following: the current manual, applicable law or case law, or a credible scientific study or source.
That standard protects your students, and it protects you. It also trains your mind for stronger report writing and testimony. You move from “I heard” to “I can support.” Officers who stand out over time are usually the ones who can explain not only what they do, but why they do it, and what the foundation is.
Lesson 4: Find a high-quality mentor, not just any mentor
During this period, I had something that cannot be replaced: a high-quality mentor.
Not just a mentor, a qualified mentor.
A strong mentor gives you someone to bounce ideas off of, vent to, joke with, teach with, and learn from. He or she keeps you grounded while you stretch into new territory. The best mentors also set a standard because they are better than you in a meaningful way. They push you to improve, and when you surpass them, they applaud you and pass the baton.
Lesson 5: Challenge the status quo and take calculated risks
Another factor that helped me stand out was a willingness to challenge the status quo, take calculated risks, and ask questions.
If something I was told did not make sense, or could not be supported in writing, I went to the science and the source material. That approach led me to develop training that challenged assumptions, and parts of it still get challenged. That is fine. If you put your work in public, especially in training and testimony, criticism comes with it.
The key is what you do with criticism. If your work is grounded, your reasoning is disciplined, and your goal is to improve practice rather than win arguments, criticism becomes refinement instead of a reason to quit.
Calculated risk matters. Submit the class proposal. Write the article. Ask the question. Offer training. Test the idea against the evidence. Let people critique it, then improve it.
Lesson 6: Reach out to real experts because many will respond
I also learned that experts are often more accessible than people think.
Many times, I emailed someone whose work I respected and got a response. Often, that response turned into a valuable conversation. People who care deeply about their work often enjoy discussing it. Yes, they are busy, and sometimes it takes time, but reaching out opened doors to direct learning from the source, and that accelerates growth.
If you read an article, study, or training material that helps you, contact the author. Ask a thoughtful question. Introduce yourself professionally. Start the relationship before you need something urgent.
Lesson 7: Knowledge must be matched with action
All of this creates opportunity, but it must show up when it matters. In this field, that means enforcement and testimony.
Outside the classroom, your reputation is built through real cases, real decisions, and real testimony on the stand. Technical knowledge matters, but in impaired driving enforcement it must be paired with accurate application.
Knowledge alone is not enough. Practice alone is not enough. Someone who knows a lot but has not done the work may be a researcher, attorney, or critic. Someone who has done the work repeatedly but cannot explain why may be experienced, but not yet expert.
To be an expert, you need both: deep knowledge of the subject and practical, accurate application of the skill. That combination is what DeAris V. Hoard and Jennifer Hall describe as the “pracademic.”1 You may not have a PhD, and you may not be conducting scientific studies, but you can adopt the mindset.
Lesson 8: Help others
This is the most important lesson.
I love teaching because it allows me to help others be better and know better. When you are helpful, people remember it. They talk about it when you are not in the room. Over time, that creates a network of people who support your work, refer others to you, and open doors you could not have opened alone.
What an expert really looks like in this field
If I had to summarize what a true expert looks like in impaired driving enforcement, I would describe someone who is a lifelong learner, accurate in practical application, grounded in foundational knowledge, committed to continuing education, helpful to others, and willing to be corrected and improve.
Expertise is not perfection. I still have a lot to learn. I still make mistakes. The difference is what happens next: acknowledge the mistake, learn from it, adjust, and keep going.
What you can do right now
Here are practical steps any officer can take now:
Read your foundational material again. Go back to the manual. Many officers are surprised by what they missed, or what they have been paraphrasing inaccurately for years.
Teach it and let people ask questions. Teach formally or informally. If you cannot answer a question, find the answer in writing. Do not guess.
Find a quality mentor and ask how to improve. Seek someone supportive and more capable than you in a meaningful way, then ask direct questions about what to improve next.
Contact an author, researcher, or instructor. Ask a thoughtful question and introduce yourself. Small professional relationships become big resources later.
Get the repetitions. If impaired driving enforcement is your focus, work the cases. Build practical experience and practice applying the skill accurately, not just aggressively.
Prepare for testimony like it matters, because it does. Study. Work with your prosecutor. Reach out to your Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor if available and ask for resources. Meet with the D.A. before trial so the direct examination can be focused and effective.
Help someone else improve. We can all be mentored, and we can all mentor someone else at the same time.
A final word
This post is based on my personal journey, but the goal is simple: show that expertise can be built on purpose. I still have more to learn, and I still make mistakes, but I make sure to acknowledge them and learn from them.
That is how expertise is built.
And that is how we get better from the stop to the stand.
Reference
- DeAris V. Hoard and Jennifer Hall, “The Rise of the Pracademic: Bridging the Gap Between the Streets and Academia,” Police Chief 92, no. 12 (December 2025): 26–31.
