April 14, 2010

Mr. Mack Reinwand

Assistant City Attorney

Arlington Police Department

P.O. Box 1065

Arlington, Texas 76004-1065

OR2010-05332

Dear Mr. Reinward:

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# 375844 ( APD Reference # 2010-01-115).

The Arlington Police Department (the "department") received a request for a specified incident report. You 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.

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 section encompasses information protected by other statutes, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code, which makes confidential juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997. The relevant language of section 58.007 reads:

(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 Subchapters B, D, and E.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c). For purposes of section 58.007(c), a "child" is a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age. See id. § 51.02(2). The submitted report involves juvenile delinquent conduct that occurred after September 1, 1997. See id. § 51.03(a) (defining "delinquent conduct"). See id. § 51.02(2). Upon review of your arguments and the submitted information, we conclude the submitted report is generally confidential pursuant to section 58.007(c) of the Family Code.

Section 58.007(e) of the Family Code provides, however, that "[l]aw 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 [of the Family Code] [or] a criminal justice agency as that term is defined by Section 411.082, Government Code[.]" Id. § 58.007(e). Section 58.101 of the Family Code provides that "'juvenile justice agency' means an agency that has custody or control over juvenile offenders." Id. § 58.101(5). Section 411.082 of the Government Code defines a "criminal justice agency" as including "a federal or state agency that is engaged in the administration of criminal justice under a statute or executive order and that allocates a substantial portion of its annual budget to the administration of criminal justice" and "a nongovernmental railroad or campus police department that has obtained an originating agency identifier from the Federal Bureau of Investigation." Gov't Code § 411.082(3)(A)-(B).

In this instance, the requestor identifies herself as a representative of Adams County Social Services in Colorado. You do not indicate, and we are not otherwise able to determine, whether the requestor seeks access to the submitted information on behalf of a juvenile justice agency or a criminal justice agency for the purposes of section 58.007(e) of the Family Code. Nevertheless, if the department is able to determine that this particular requestor represents a juvenile justice agency or a criminal justice agency, as provided by section 58.007(e) of the Family Code, then the requestor has a right of access to the submitted information under section 58.007(e) of the Family Code. Otherwise, the requestor has no right of access to the submitted information, and the information must be withheld from the requestor under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(c) of the Family Code as information made confidential by law. We note that a release of information made confidential by section 58.007(c) under the authority of section 58.007(e) would not constitute a disclosure of confidential information to the public for the purposes of section 552.352 of the Government Code or a selective disclosure of information to the public for the purposes of section 552.007. See Open Records Decision Nos. 680 at 7-8 (2003), 655 at 8-9 (1997); compare Attorney General Opinion DM-353 at 4 n.6 (1995) (interagency transfer of information prohibited where confidentiality statute enumerates specific entities to which release of confidential information is authorized, and receiving agency is not among statute's enumerated entities).

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, toll free at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

Tamara H. Holland

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

THH/jb

Ref: ID# 375844

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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