March 3, 2009

Ms. Evelyn Njuguna

Assistant City Attorney

City of Houston

P.O. Box 368

Houston, Texas 77001-0368

OR2009-02764

Dear Ms. Njuguna:

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# 340131.

The Houston Police Department (the "department") received a request for information relating to a specified incident number. You state that some of the requested information will be released. You claim that other responsive information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.108, 552.130, and 552.147 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the information you submitted.

We first note that the submitted information includes copies of a crash report that was completed pursuant to chapter 550 of the Transportation Code. See Transp. Code § 550.064 (officer's accident report). Section 550.065(b) of the Transportation Code states that except as provided by subsection (c), accident reports are privileged and confidential. See id. § 550.065(b). Section 550.065(c)(4) provides for the release of an accident report to a person who provides two of the following three items of information: (1) the date of the accident; (2) the name of any person involved in the accident; and (3) the specific location of the accident. See id. § 550.065(c)(4). Under this provision, the Texas Department of Transportation or another governmental entity is required to release a copy of an accident report to a person who provides the agency with two or more of the items of information specified by the statute. Id. In this instance, the requestor has provided the department with two of the three specified items of information. As a general rule, 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). Therefore, the crash report must be released to this requestor in its entirety pursuant to section 550.065(c)(4) of the Transportation Code.

Section 552.108 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "[i]nformation held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime . . . if . . . it is information that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime only in relation to an investigation that did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication.[.]" Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(2). A governmental body must reasonably explain how and why section 552.108 is applicable to the information at issue. See id. § 552.301(e)(1)(A); Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You state that the rest of the submitted information is related to a criminal investigation that concluded in a determination by the Harris County District Attorney's Office to decline accepting charges. Based on your representation, we conclude that section 552.108(a)(2) is generally applicable to the remaining information.

Section 552.108 does not except from disclosure "basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime." Gov't Code § 552.108(c). Section 552.108(c) refers to the basic front-page information held to be public in Houston Chronicle Publishing Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976). See Houston Chronicle, 531 S.W.2d at 186-88. The department must release basic information under section 552.108(c), including a detailed description of the offense, even if the information does not literally appear on the front page of an offense or arrest report. See Open Records Decision No. 127 at 3-4 (1976) (summarizing types of information deemed public by Houston Chronicle). The department may withhold the remaining information under section 552.108(a)(2).

In summary: (1) the crash report must be released in its entirety pursuant to section 550.065(c)(4) of the Transportation Code; and (2) the department may withhold the rest of the submitted information under section 552.108(a)(2) of the Government Code, except for the basic information that must be released under section 552.108(c). As we are able to make these determinations, we need not address the other exceptions you claim.

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# 340131

Enc: Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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