 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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April 13, 2009 Ms. Cherl K. Byles Assistant City Attorney City of Fort Worth 1000 Throckmorton Street, 3rd Floor Fort Worth, Texas 76102 OR2009-04810 Dear Ms. Byles: 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# 344185 (Fort Worth Request No. 2459-09). The City of Fort Worth (the "city") received a request for a specified incident report. You claim the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information. Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. This exception encompasses information that other statutes make confidential. You raise section 552.101 in conjunction with section 58.007 of the Family Code, which provides in part: (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). We have reviewed the submitted report and find it involves allegations of juvenile delinquent conduct that occurred after September 1, 1997. Thus, the submitted report is subject to section 58.007(c). In this instance, however, we note and you acknowledge, that the requestor as a parent of the involved juvenile. The requestor has a right to inspect juvenile law enforcement records concerning his child pursuant to section 58.007(e) of the Family Code. See id. § 58.007(e). However, section 58.007(j) provides that information subject to any other exception to disclosure under the Act or other law must be redacted. See id. § 58.007(j)(2). Accordingly, we will address your claim under section 552.108 of the Government Code. Section 552.108(a) excepts from disclosure "[i]nformation held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime . . . . if . . . release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime[.]" Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). 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 inform us, and provide an affidavit stating, that the submitted information relates to a pending criminal prosecution. Based on your representation, we conclude that section 552.108(a)(1) is applicable in this instance. See Houston Chronicle Publ'g 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) (court delineates law enforcement interests that are present in active cases). 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. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-88; see also Open Records Decision No. 127 at 3-4 (1976) (summarizing types of information deemed public by Houston Chronicle). Therefore, with the exception of basic information, the city may withhold the submitted report under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code. (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, Amy L.S. Shipp Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division ALS/rl Ref: ID# 344185 Enc. Submitted documents cc: Requestor (w/o enclosures) Footnotes1. We note that because the requestor has a special right of access to basic information in this instance, the city must again seek a decision from this office if it receives another request for the same information from another requestor.
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