Drug enforcement expenditures are divided into two categories: general drug enforcement and cash transactions relating to undercover operations (confidential expenditures).

General Drug Enforcement
General drug enforcement expenditures include all drug enforcement expenditures that are not directly related to undercover operations. General drug enforcement expenditures include:

• Automobiles for drug investigators
• Maintenance and operational expenditures for a drug officer’s automobile, including gasoline;
• Telephone charges, including cellular telephone charges;
• Office supplies and office equipment for drug enforcement officers;
• Drug identification kits for drug investigators and patrol;
• Drug enforcement training;
• Drug dogs and their maintenance, including food and veterinary service.

General drug enforcement expenditures are not confidential and must follow the city’s purchasing guidelines. If the city has not adopted purchasing guidelines, it must follow the state purchasing guidelines for local governments. T.C.A. § 39-17-420.

Confidential Expenditures
Cash transactions relating to undercover operations are confidential expenditures. Examples of these expenditures include:

• Payments made to an informant for information
• Payments made to an independent undercover agent;
• Money spent to actually purchase drugs as part of an undercover operation;
• Gasoline or minor maintenance for an undercover vehicle or an informant’s vehicle when used in undercover operations.

Office of the Comptroller Procedures for Handling Cash Transactions Related to Undercover Investigative Operations of County and Municipal Drug Enforcement Programs (2012).