 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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November 13, 2007 Mr. Denis C. McElroy OR2007-14895 Dear Mr. McElroy: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 294465. The City of Fort Worth (the "city") received a request for policies and procedures pertaining to the city's gang unit and information from the city's gang database pertaining to two individuals. You state that you have released the requested policies and procedures. You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information. Section 552.101 excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." This section encompasses information protected by other statutes. You claim that the information at issue is excepted from public disclosure pursuant to section 552.101 in conjunction with article 61.03 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Chapter 61 of the Code of Criminal Procedure deals with intelligence information pertaining to street gangs. Article 61.02 provides in part that "a criminal justice agency may compile criminal information into an intelligence database for the purpose of investigating or prosecuting the criminal activities of criminal combinations or criminal street gangs." Article 61.03 provides in relevant part: (a) A criminal justice agency that maintains criminal information under this chapter may release the information on request to: (1) another criminal justice agency; (2) a court; or (3) a defendant in a criminal proceeding who is entitled to the discovery of the information under Chapter 39. Crim. Proc. Code art. 61.03(a). Further, article 61.05 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that release of the information to a person who is not entitled to the information is a Class A misdemeanor. You inform us that the submitted information is criminal gang information maintained in the city police department's gang database. Furthermore, we understand you to assert that the requestor is not entitled to the information under article 61.03. Thus, based on your representations and our review of the records, we conclude that the city must withhold the submitted information pursuant to section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with article 61.03 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 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, upon receiving this ruling, the governmental body will either release the public records promptly pursuant to section 552.221(a) of the Government Code or file a lawsuit challenging this ruling pursuant to section 552.324 of the Government Code. If the governmental body fails to do one of these things, 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 Dep't of Pub. 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 Office of the Attorney General 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, Justin D. Gordon Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division JDG/jh Ref: ID# 294465 Enc. Submitted documents c: Mr. Ruben Gonzalez P.O. Box 33849 Fort Worth, Texas 76162 (w/o enclosures)
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