Below you will find an excerpt from the U.S. Department of Treasury's Guide to Equitable Sharing for Foreign Countries and Federal, State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies detailing the uses of forfeited money and property.

USES OF EQUITABLY SHARED PROPERTY

A. General Guidance Concerning Use

1. Equitably Shared Property Should Not be Anticipated - Do not "spend it before you get it" or anticipate receipts. For example, assume that a local law enforcement agency has filed a TD F 92-22.46 to request a 50% share of $100,000. The $50,000 should not be budgeted for three reasons:
   1. the completion of the forfeiture is uncertain
   2. the amount of the sharing that will ultimately be approved is also uncertain;
   3. net proceeds have not been determined
2. Increase and Not Replace (Supplement vs. Supplant) - Sharing must be used to increase or supplement the resources of the receiving state or local law enforcement agency. Shared resources shall not be used to replace or supplant the resources of the recipient. In determining whether the sharing increased or supplemented the receiving agency, the total law enforcement budget will be considered as opposed to any particular item or items within the budget. In other words, the receiving law enforcement agency's aggregate budget must benefit directly from the sharing.
   
   If for example, a police department receives $100,000 in equitable sharing, only to have its budget cut $100,000 by the city council, the police department has received no direct benefit whatsoever. Rather, the city as a whole has received the benefit of the equitable sharing.
3. Use of Interest Income - Interest on forfeited cash or proceeds is subject to the same restrictions as the shared cash or proceeds.
4. Prohibited Sharing - Forfeited firearms may not be shared with foreign countries, state or local enforcement agencies.

B. Uses of Shared Cash or Proceeds of Forfeited Property

1. Permissible Uses: Subject to laws, rules, regulations, and orders of the state or local jurisdiction governing the use of public funds available for law enforcement purposes, the following expenses are pre-approved as permissible uses of shared funds and property.
   1. Activities Calculated to Enhance Future Investigations -- The support of investigations and operations that may result in further seizures and forfeitures, e.g., payments to informants; "buy", "flash", or reward money; and the purchase of evidence.
   2. Law Enforcement Training -- The training of investigators, prosecutors, and law enforcement support personnel in any area that is necessary to perform official law enforcement duties. Some examples of such training are the following: (1) asset forfeiture in general (statutory requirements, policies, procedures, caselaw); (2) the Fourth Amendment (search and seizure, probable cause, drafting affidavits, confidential informant reliability); (3) ethics and the National Code of Professional Conduct for Asset Forfeiture; (4) due process rights; (5) protecting the rights of innocent third-parties (individuals and lienholders); (6) use of computers or other equipment used in or in support of law enforcement duties. The payment of college tuition, hospitality suites at conferences, and other indirect training expenses are not allowed.
   3. Law Enforcement Equipment and Operations -- The purchase of body armor, firearms, radios, cellular telephones, computer equipment, software to be used in support of law enforcement purposes, vehicles (e.g., patrol vehicles, surveillance vehicles), electronic surveillance equipment, uniforms, travel, transportation, supplies, leasing of office and other space for task force and undercover operations, and leasing or purchase of other types of equipment that support law enforcement activities. Forensic labs and equipment and related training and certification expenses are permissible.
   4. Detention Facilities -- The costs associated with construction, expansion, improvement, or operation of detention facilities managed by the recipient agency.
   5. Law Enforcement Facilities and Equipment -- The costs associated with basic and necessary facilities, their construction, updating, remodeling, furniture, safes, file cabinets, telecommunications equipment, etc., that are necessary to perform official law enforcement duties.
   6. Drug Education and Awareness Programs -- The costs associated with conducting drug education and awareness programs by law enforcement agencies.
   7. Pro Rata Funding -- The costs associated with supporting multi-agency items or facilities. Example: A town purchases a new computerized payroll system; the police department payroll represents twenty percent of the total use of the payroll system. The police department may use shared money to fund its pro rata share (twenty percent) of the operating and maintenance expenses of the system.
   8. Asset Accounting and Tracking -- The costs associated with the accounting, auditing, and tracking of revenues and expenditures of equitable shared cash, proceeds, and tangible property.
   9. Salaries -- Many of the costs of the activities described above could entail the payment of salaries of the personnel involved. Due to the extreme sensitivity of asset forfeiture work, the payment of salaries of sworn law enforcement officers is limited to the following categories:
      • Overtime.
      • The first year's salaries only for new law enforcement officers that supplement the workforce.
      • Contractual appointments that do not exceed one year.
      • Salaries of officers assigned to non-traditional positions in approved specialized programs which do not generally involve traditional law enforcement functions such as DARE officers.
      • Payments expressly authorized by law, such as the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program established by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which expressly permits state and local law enforcement agencies to use equitably shared asset forfeiture funds to meet the local match requirements of that program.
      • Salaries of sworn law enforcement officers hired to replace officers assigned to a federal task force. A law enforcement agency may expend equitably shared funds to pay the salaries of replacement officers for the life of the task force and up to six months after the task force has disbanded.
   The above expenses are not meant to be all inclusive and other expenses may be permissible. Guidance from the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture must be sought for any proposed use of shared cash or proceeds that could be questioned as to its law enforcement purpose.
   
   NOTE: The fact that the shared property was forfeited as a result of a particular federal violation does not limit its use. For example, when an agency receives a share of property that was forfeited for a federal drug violation, the shared property does not have to be used in a department's drug program. Priority consideration should be given, however, to completely equipping units that generate forfeitures in order to foster future forfeiture investigations.
   
   
2. Impermissible Uses:
   1. Uses of Forfeited Property by Non-Law Enforcement Personnel -- Use of a shared vehicle or other forfeited tangible property by non-law enforcement personnel for non-law enforcement business.
   2. Payment of Non-Law Enforcement Expenses -- Shared funds may be used to pay the expenses for drug testing of law enforcement personnel, but may not be used for the testing of all municipal employees.
   3. Uses Not Specified in the TDF 92-22.46 -- Requesting state and local agencies must specify on the TDF 92-22.46 what uses will be made of the shared property. Any departure from such stated uses must be approved in writing by the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture, unless the use is already specified in paragraph B.1 of this section.
   4. Uses Contrary to the Laws of the State or Local Jurisdiction -- Shared funds may not be used for any purpose that would constitute an improper use of state or local law enforcement funds under the laws, rules, regulations, and orders of the state or local jurisdiction of which the agency is a part.
   5. Non-Official Government Use of Shared Assets -- Any use that creates the appearance that shared funds are being used for political or personal purposes.

SAMPLE BOOKKEEPING PROCEDURES

1. Establish a separate revenue account or accounting code through your Department of Finance for the proceeds from the Department of the Treasury equitable sharing program. This account or accounting code should also receive any interest income generated by the funds and must be used in accordance with the provisions of this Guide. This account or accounting code will be solely for the use of Treasury sharing proceeds.
2. Maintain a log and copies of all TDF 92-22.46 forms forwarded to the Department of the Treasury. A consecutive numbering system should be used for control purposes. The log should contain seizure type (property and currency), amount, share amount requested, amount received, and date received.
3. Update the log when funds are received from the Department of the Treasury. The amount received may differ from the amount requested.
4. Designate all checks as restrictive and have them endorsed by the responsible individual immediately upon receipt. Deposit all funds into the revenue account on the date received or no later than the next business day.
5. Safeguard all checks received if not deposited on the day received. Physically place checks in a safe, locked cash box, locked drawer, or other secured place.
6. For equitable sharing payments transmitted by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), the deposits must be reconciled with the log that is used to record sharing payments.
7. Upon final approval, contracts or purchase orders may be issued to formally disburse deposited assets for goods or services. Purchase orders and contracts are encumbered, or charged against the revenue account balance.
8. Maintain a record of all expenditures from the revenue account or accounting code. These expenditures must be in accordance with this Guide.