February 9, 2009

Mr. Adam C. Falco

Assistant City Attorney

City of College Station

P.O. Box 9960

College Station, Texas 7842

OR2009-01707

Dear Mr. Falco:

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# 338379.

The College Station Police Department (the "department") received a request for information relating to an investigation involving forged checks. You state that some of the requested information has been released. You claim that the rest of 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 information you submitted.

We note that the submitted information involves an alleged violation of section 32.51 of the Penal Code, which provides that "[a] person commits an offense if the person obtains, possesses, transfers, or uses identifying information of another person without the other person's consent and with intent to harm or defraud another." Penal Code § 32.51(b). Article 2.29 of the Code of Criminal Procedure pertains to alleged violations of section 32.51 that occurred on or after September 1, 2005 and provides as follows:

(a) A peace officer to whom an alleged violation of Section 32.51, Penal Code, is reported shall make a written report to the law enforcement agency that employs the peace officer that includes the following information:

(1) the name of the victim;

(2) the name of the suspect, if known;

(3) the type of identifying information obtained, possessed, transferred, or used in violation of Section 32.51, Penal Code; and

(4) the results of any investigation.

(b) On the victim's request, the law enforcement agency shall provide the report created under Subsection (a) to the victim. In providing the report, the law enforcement agency shall redact any otherwise confidential information that is included in the report, other than the information described by Subsection (a).

Crim. Proc. Code art. 2.29. For the purposes of article 2.29, an offense is committed on or after September 1, 2005 if no "element of the offense occurs before that date." Act of Jun. 17, 2005, 79th Leg., R.S., ch. 294, § 1(b), 2005 Tex. Gen. Laws 885.

In this instance, the submitted report involves alleged check forgery, and the requestor is listed as the crime victim. Furthermore, the report involves an offense that occurred after September 1, 2005. Thus, the report is subject to article 2.29 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and must be released to the requestor, except to the extent that it contains confidential information. You seek to withhold the report under section 552.108 of the Government Code. As a general rule, however, the exceptions to disclosure found in the Act do not apply to information that other statutes make public. See Open Records Decision Nos. 623 at 3 (1994), 525 at 3 (1989). Thus, the department may not withhold the submitted information under section 552.108. Instead, the information must be released to this requestor in its entirety pursuant to article 2.29 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. ⁽¹⁾

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information 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 information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General at (512) 475-2497.

Sincerely,

James W. Morris, III

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JWM/cc

Ref: ID# 338379

Enc: Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note that the submitted documents contain information that the department would be required to withhold from the public under confidentiality provisions that protect the requestor's privacy. In this instance, however, the requestor has a right of access to her own private information under section 552.023 of the Government Code. See Gov't Code § 552.023(a); Open Records Decision No. 481 at 4 (1987) (privacy theories not implicated when individual requests information concerning herself).

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