January 15, 2010

Mr. Daniel Bradford

Assistant County Attorney

Travis County

P.O. Box 1748

Austin, Texas 78767

OR2010-00820

Dear Mr. Bradford:

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# 367488.

The Travis County Sheriff's Office (the "sheriff") received a request for records pertaining incident number 075873 and any available records for a named individual. You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim.

Initially, we note that you have not submitted information pertaining to report number 075873. Therefore, to the extent information responsive to this portion of the request existed at the time the sheriff received the request for information, we assume you have released it to the requestor. If you have not released any such information, you must do so at this time. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(a), .302; Open Records Decision No. 664 (2000) (noting that if a governmental body concludes that no exceptions apply to the requested information, it must release information as soon as possible under circumstances).

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 the doctrine of common-law privacy, which protects information that (1) contains highly intimate or embarrassing facts, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) is not of legitimate concern to the public. Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be established. See id. at 681-82. A compilation of an individual's criminal history is highly embarrassing information, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person. Cf. U. S. Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749, 764 (1989) (finding significant privacy interest in compilation of individual's criminal history by recognizing distinction between public records found in courthouse files and local police stations and compiled summary of criminal history information). Furthermore, a compilation of a private citizen's criminal history is generally not of legitimate concern to the public.

The present request in part seeks all records of a named individual. We find this portion of the request requires the sheriff to compile unspecified law enforcement records concerning the named individual. Therefore, to the extent the sheriff maintains law enforcement records depicting the named individual as a suspect, arrestee, or criminal defendant, the sheriff must withhold such information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

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,

Nneka Kanu

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

NK/jb

Ref: ID# 367488

Enc. Submitted documents

cc: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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