Doug Thooft is a 21-year veteran of law enforcement. He has been with the Minnesota State Patrol for the past 19 years, currently serving as a Lieutenant in-charge of the Rochester District Commercial Vehicle Section. Doug is currently working on fatigue driving issues with commercial vehicle drivers and overlooks impaired driving issues related to commercial vehicles. Part of his role includes coming up with innovative ideas to address the impaired and fatigue driving problem.

Thooft started his law enforcement career with the Springfield Police Department, MN, in 1984 and completed his Associate of Science Degree at Willmar Community College. He joined the Minnesota State Patrol in 1986 and started in the Minneapolis Area rotating days and afternoons. One year after transferring to the Night shift he was promoted to Sergeant and became the Standardized Field Sobriety and Drug Recognition Expert Coordinator. As State Coordinator, Doug overlooked the Drug Evaluation and Classification Program and impaired driving related training for all law enforcement agencies throughout the State of Minnesota.
Some of his career contributions include Drug Recognition Research at John Hopkins University, Drug Recognition curriculum review/updates for IACP, Drug Recognition training recommendations to the Minnesota Legislature, and numerous prosecutor and judicial training seminars in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Doug also organized the 1999, 5th Annual, Drugs, Alcohol, and Impaired Driving Conference, held in Minnesota. This event was attended by over 600 police officers, prosecutors, and toxicologists from around the United States and Canada. Doug was also invited to Washington D.C., Arizona, Maryland, and Kansas to establish and administer instructional programs for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. He has assisted numerous states with implementation of their Drug Recognition Expert Programs.

Doug is one of the premiere Drug Recognition Instructors in the United States. In this capacity, he has trained over 2000 law enforcement officers from numerous departments in 38 states. His contributions were rewarded in 1992 when he received Employee of the Year from the State of Minnesota. In 1993, he received a Federal Highway Administration Commercial Vehicle award for a Drug and Alcohol Project in which he participated. In 1998 he received the National Award for Outstanding Education by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and Citizens Against Drug Impaired Driving (CANDID). Doug served as the Chair for the International Association of Chiefs of Police Technical Advisory Panel in 1999 and has been the representative for Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Indiana, Illinois, Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas and Missouri since that time. Thooft is a recent graduate of Northwestern University's School of Police Staff and Command, a preparatory school for future agency administrators. Through his commitment he continues to instruct Drug Recognition and Impaired Driving Training for the State of Minnesota.

Due to the overwhelming demand for Drug Recognition education in the public and private sectors, Doug co-founded Corporate Drug and Alcohol Specialists Incorporated, specializing in educating business on the signs and symptoms of drug influence. To date, Doug and his partners have presented educational programs to hundreds of personnel in a multitude of fields, including education, transportation, communication, counseling, medical, liquor, hospitality, law enforcement, corrections, probation, insurance, and casinos. Today, they continue to address America's drug problem through Recognizing the Drug Impaired, "Last Call" Beverage Server Education, and Hospitality Crime Prevention programs. Doug is committed to providing the customer with the latest information, provided by the highest caliber of drug recognition instructors in the country.