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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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June 28, 2002 Mr. Steven D. Monté
OR2002-3525 Dear Mr. Monté: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 164989. The Dallas Police Department (the "department") received a request for internal affairs investigation number 01-186. You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.103 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the representative sampled information.(1) Initially, we note that the submitted information is subject to section 552.022 of the Government Code. Section 552.022 provides that the following categories of information are public information and not excepted from required disclosure under this chapter unless they are expressly confidential under other law: (1) a completed report, audit, evaluation, or investigation made of, for, or by a governmental body, except as provided by Section 552.108[.] Gov't Code § 552.022(a)(1). The submitted information is a completed investigation. The department must release the submitted information under section 552.022(a)(1), unless it is excepted under section 552.108 or is otherwise confidential by law. Since section 552.103 is a discretionary exception to disclosure that protects the governmental body's interests, it may be waived. As such, this exception does not make information confidential. See Dallas Area Rapid Transit v. Dallas Morning News, 4 S.W.3d 469, 475-76 (Tex. App.-Dallas 1999, no pet.)(governmental body may waive Gov't Code § 552.103); Open Records Decision No. 542 at 4 (1990) (litigation exception does not implicate third-party rights and may be waived). Thus, the department may not withhold the submitted information under section 552.103. We note, however, that the submitted documents contain Texas license plate numbers that are protected from disclosure by section 552.130 of the Government Code. Section 552.130 excepts from disclosure certain motor vehicle information that is issued by an agency of this state. We have marked the Texas license plate numbers that must be withheld under section 552.130. The submitted documents also contain information that is excepted from public disclosure under section 552.117(2). Section 552.117(2) excepts from disclosure a peace officer's home address, home telephone number, social security number, and information indicating whether the peace officer has family members. Section 552.117(2) applies to peace officers as defined by article 2.12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. We have marked the information that is protected under section 552.117(2) of the Government Code. The remaining information must be released. In summary, the department must withhold the information we have marked under sections 552.117 and 552.130. The remaining information, however, 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 Texas Building and Procurement 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. We note that a third party may challenge this ruling by filing suit seeking to withhold information from a requestor. Gov't Code § 552.325. 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, June B. Harden
c: Mr. Mike Searles
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 |