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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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May 24, 2001 Mr. John Steiner
OR2001-2151 Dear Mr. Steiner: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 147627. The Austin Police Department (the "department") received a request for "all materials, manuals, references, reports, and videotapes which are used in the instruction of Texas Department of Safety [p]ersonnel for drug recognition training." You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the representative sample of submitted information.(1) Section 552.108 states: (a) [i]nformation held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime is excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021 if: (1) release of the information wold interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime[.] (b) An internal record or notation of a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that is maintained for internal use in matters to law enforcement or prosecution is excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021 if: (1) release of the internal record or notation would interfere with law enforcement or prosecution[.] Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1), (b)(1). Generally, a governmental body claiming an exception under section 552.108 must reasonably explain, if the information does not supply the explanation on its face, how and why the release of the requested information would interfere with law enforcement. See Gov't Code §§ 552.108(a)(1), (b)(1), .301(b)(1); see also Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You state the requested information consists of law enforcement techniques for the detection of crime, and that its "release would interfere with the detection of crime by revealing those matters that officers are trained to observe," thus "allowing persons to avoid detection." You have submitted for our review an administrator's guide to the Drug Evaluation and Classification Training "The Drug Recognition Expert School." Contained within the administrator's guide is an outline on the purpose of the document, a one paragraph overview of the 7-day course, an outline of student, departmental, legal and political prerequisites to enrolling in the course, a schedule of events, titles, duration and sequence of sessions provided during the course, definitions of terms, standards for certification as drug recognition experts and instructors, and standards for decertification of drug recognition experts and instructors. After reviewing your arguments and carefully examining the submitted information, we conclude that you have not adequately explained, nor do the documents supply on their face, how release of the requested information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. Thus, the requested information is not excepted under section 552.108 of the Government Code and must be released. This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances. This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For example, governmental bodies are prohibited from asking the attorney general to reconsider this ruling. Gov't Code § 552.301(f). If the governmental body wants to challenge this ruling, the governmental body must appeal by filing suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such an appeal, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3), (c). If the governmental body does not appeal this ruling and the governmental body does not comply with it, then both the requestor and the attorney general have the right to file suit against the governmental body to enforce this ruling. Id. § 552.321(a). If this ruling requires the governmental body to release all or part of the requested information, the governmental body is responsible for taking the next step. Based on the statute, the attorney general expects that, within 10 calendar days of this ruling, the governmental body will do one of the following three things: 1) release the public records; 2) notify the requestor of the exact day, time, and place that copies of the records will be provided or that the records can be inspected; or 3) notify the requestor of the governmental body's intent to challenge this letter ruling in court. If the governmental body fails to do one of these three things within 10 calendar days of this ruling, then the requestor should report that failure to the attorney general's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at 877/673-6839. The requestor may also file a complaint with the district or county attorney. Id. § 552.3215(e). If this ruling requires or permits the governmental body to withhold all or some of the requested information, the requestor can appeal that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Department of Public Safety v. Gilbreath, 842 S.W.2d 408,411 (Tex. App.--Austin 1992, no writ). Please remember that under the Act the release of information triggers certain procedures for costs and charges to the requestor. If records are released in compliance with this ruling, be sure that all charges for the information are at or below the legal amounts. Questions or complaints about over-charging must be directed to Hadassah Schloss at the General Services Commission at 512/475-2497. If the governmental body, the requestor, or any other person has questions or comments about this ruling, they may contact our office. Although there is no statutory deadline for contacting us, the attorney general prefers to receive any comments within 10 calendar days of the date of this ruling. Sincerely, Yen-Ha Le
YHL/DBF/seg Ref: ID# 147627 Encl. Submitted documents cc: Mr. Jon Heining
Footnotes 1. We assume that the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open records letter does not reach, and therefore does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records to the extent that those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office. POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |