November 24, 2008

Ms. Antoinette Titus

Cedar Hill Independent School District Police Department

270 South Highway 67

Cedar Hill, Texas 75104

OR2008-16123

Dear Ms. Titus:

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# 328564.

The Cedar Hill Independent School District Police Department (the "department") received a request for a specific incident report. We understand you to 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.

Initially, we note you have redacted portions of the submitted report. Pursuant to section 552.301 of the Government Code, a governmental body that seeks to withhold requested information must submit to this office a copy of the information, labeled to indicate which exceptions apply to which parts of the copy, unless the governmental body has received a previous determination for the information at issue. Gov't Code § 552.301(a), (e)(1)(D). You do not assert, nor does our review of the records indicate, you have been authorized to withhold any of the redacted information without seeking a ruling from this office. See id. § 552.301(a); Open Records Decision 673 (2000). As such, the information must be submitted in a manner that enables this office to determine whether the information comes within the scope of an exception to disclosure. In this instance, we can discern the nature of the redacted information; thus, being deprived of that information does not inhibit our ability to make a ruling. In the future, however, the department should refrain from redacting any information it submits to this office in seeking an open records ruling. Redaction of such information may result in a determination that the information must be released. See Gov't Code § 552.302; Hancock v. State Bd. of Ins., 797 S.W.2d 379, 381 (Tex. App.-Austin 1990, no writ). We now address your argument against disclosure.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from public disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses information protected by other statutes, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code. The relevant language of section 58.007 provides:

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), law enforcement records and files concerning a child and information stored, by electronic means or otherwise, concerning the child from which a record or file could be generated may not be disclosed to the public and shall be:

(1) if maintained on paper or microfilm, kept separate from adult files and records;

(2) if maintained electronically in the same computer system as records or files relating to adults, be accessible under controls that are separate and distinct from controls to access electronic data concerning adults; and

(3) maintained on a local basis only and not sent to a central state or federal depository, except as provided by Subchapter B, D, and E.

. . .

(e) Law enforcement records and files concerning a child may be inspected or copied by a juvenile justice agency as that term is defined by Section 58.101, a criminal justice agency as that term is defined by Section 411.082, Government Code, the child, and the child's parent or guardian.

. . .

(j) Before a child or a child's parent or guardian may inspect or copy a record or file concerning the child under Subsection (e), the custodian of the record or file shall redact:

(1) any personally identifiable information about a juvenile suspect, offender, victim, or witness who is not the child; and

(2) any information that is excepted from required disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code, or other law.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c),(e), (j). Juvenile law enforcement records relating to delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need of supervision that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007. See id. § 51.03(a), (b) (defining "delinquent conduct" and "conduct in need of supervision"). We note that for purposes of section 58.007, "child" means a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age at the time of the reported conduct. See id. § 51.02(2). Upon review, we find that the information at issue involves allegations of juvenile delinquent conduct that occurred after September 1, 1997. Thus, the submitted information is subject to section 58.007. We note, however, that the requestor is the parent of one of the juvenile offenders listed in the submitted report. Under subsection (e), the requestor may inspect a file or record related to her own child. See id. § 58.007(e). However, any personally identifiable information concerning other juvenile suspects, offenders, victims, or witnesses must be redacted. See id. § 58.007(j)(1). Accordingly, the department must redact the personally identifiable information of the juvenile offender and witnesses pursuant to section 58.007(j)(1). The department must release the rest of the submitted information to this requestor pursuant to section 552.101 in conjunction with section 58.007(e) of the Family Code.

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 file suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such a challenge, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3). If the governmental body does not file suit over 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 challenge 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,

Christina Alvarado

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CA/ma

Ref: ID# 328564

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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