The Narcotics Bureau directs enforcement efforts toward criminal drug organizations in the Tampa Bay area. Several organizations have been disbanded and/or disrupted. Additionally, members from the Narcotics Unit work with various agencies including the DEA, FBI and US Customs.

These detectives track the flow of illegal drugs from other countries into the United States and finally Tampa. They conduct long-term investigations that target every level of drug organizations from major traffickers to mid-level distributors and street level dealers. Narcotic detectives work closely with federal investigators from the DEA, FBI and Immigration Customs Enforcement. This unit has also successfully prosecuted countless cases through a federal program called HIDTA, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program.

Narcotics detectives seized $6,480,000 in illegal drugs in 2008

• The Gang Suppression Unit is responsible for conducting investigations of gang related crime and the collection of intelligence information pertaining to gangs. Their responsibility includes both criminal street gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs. The Tampa Police Department Gang Suppression Unit is an active member of various partnerships targeting gangs such as United States Project Safe Neighborhoods and the Florida Attorney General’s Gang Reduction Task Force.  The unit made 159 arrests and 7 covert operations in 2008. 

• The Firearms Investigative Unit works closely with the Federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agency (ATF) and is responsible for issues regarding firearms, which include verifying information on all firearms acquired by TPD, submitting information to the ATF National Trace Center, and identifying and submitting firearms to FDLE that qualify for the National Integrated Ballistic Identification Network. ATF considers Tampa the country's leader in gun tracing and firearms investigation based on the success rate and innovative program in place. The unit recovered 51 firearms, destroyed 999 firearms and ran 593 Federal Gun Traces in 2008

• The Narcotics Unit is responsible for the enforcement those applicable laws pertaining to narcotics and dangerous drugs, the latent investigations of organized crime groups and criminal enterprises engaged in narcotics trafficking. The Unit also gathers and disseminates pertinent information concerning narcotics to divisions within the Tampa Police Department and other agencies.  In 2008, the TPD Narcotics Unit seized 78 pounds of cocaine, 5.6 pounds of heroin, 2,400 pounds of marijuana, 13,200 Ecstasy pills, and 8 grams of methamphetamine.