April 14, 2009

Ms. Teresa J. Brown

Senior Open Records Assistant

City of Plano

P.O. Box 860358

Plano, Texas 75086-0358

OR2009-04846

Dear Ms. Brown:

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# 339854.

The Plano Police Department (the "department") received a request for information regarding a specified arrest. You claim the requested 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 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. Section 552.101 encompasses information protected by other statutes, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code. Juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007 of the Family Code. You assert the information at issue is subject to this section. However, we note that section 58.007 is inapplicable in this instance because the conduct at issue occurred in 1987. Former section 51.14 of the Family Code is the applicable provision in this instance. Prior to its repeal by the Seventy-Fourth Legislature, section 51.14(d) provided for the confidentiality of juvenile law enforcement records. See Open Records Decision No. 181 (1977) (concluding that former section 51.14(d) of the Family Code excepts police reports which identify juvenile suspects or furnish basis for their identification). Law enforcement records pertaining to juvenile conduct occurring before January 1, 1996 are governed by former section 51.14(d), which was continued in effect for that purpose. Act of May 27, 1995, 74th Leg., R.S., ch. 262, § 100, 1995 Tex. Gen. Laws 2517, 2591. Section 51.14 only applies to records of a "child," which is defined as a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age. See Fam. Code § 51.02(2). In this instance, the submitted report involves a juvenile engaged in delinquent conduct before January 1, 1996. See id. § 51.03 (defining "delinquent conduct"). Therefore, the information at issue is confidential under former section 51.14 of the Family Code and must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code.

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# 339854

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cc: Requestor

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