January 19, 2010

Mr. Samuel D. Hawk

Assistant City Attorney

Criminal Law and Police Division

City of Dallas

1400 South Lamar

Dallas, Texas 75215

OR2010-00850

Dear Mr. Hawk:

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# 371896 (ORR 2009-11300).

The Dallas Police Department (the "department") received a request for service number 352760-W. You claim that portions of the requested information are excepted from disclosure under sections 552.108 and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information. ⁽¹⁾

Initially, we address the submitted CR-3 accident report completed pursuant to chapter 550 of the Transportation Code. Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." ⁽²⁾ Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses information made confidential by other statutes, including chapter 550 of the Transportation Code. See Transp. Code § 550.064 (officer's accident report). Section 550.065(b) states that except as provided by subsection (c), accident reports are privileged and confidential. Section 550.065(c)(4) provides for the release of accident reports to a person who provides two of the following three pieces of information: (1) date of the accident; (2) name of any person involved in the accident; and (3) specific location of the accident. 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 pieces of information specified by the statute. Id. In this instance, the requestor has not provided two of the three pieces of required information for the submitted accident report. Thus, the department must withhold the accident report, which we have marked, under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 550.065(b).

Next, you raise section 552.108 of the Government Code for the information you have marked. 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: (1) release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime." Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). Generally, a governmental body claiming section 552.108 must reasonably explain how and why the release of the requested information would interfere with law enforcement. See id. § 552.301(e)(1)(A); see also Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). In this instance, you state the submitted information relates to a pending criminal investigation. Based on your representation and our review, we conclude release of the information you have marked would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. 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). Thus, the information you have marked may be withheld under section 552.108(a)(1).

You have marked information you claim is excepted under section 552.130 of the Government Code. Section 552.130 provides that information relating to a motor vehicle title or registration issued by a Texas agency is excepted from public release. Gov't Code. § 552.130(a)(2). The department must withhold the information you have marked under section 552.130. ⁽³⁾

In summary, the department must withhold the submitted CR-3 accident report form pursuant to section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 550.065 of the Transportation Code. The department may withhold the information you have marked under section 552.108 of the Government Code. The Texas motor vehicle record information you have marked must be withheld under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The remaining information must be released.

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# 371896

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We assume that the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open records letter does not reach, and therefore does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records to the extent that those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office.

2. The Office of the Attorney General will raise a mandatory exception on behalf of a governmental body, but ordinarily will not raise other exceptions. Open Records Decision Nos. 481 (1987), 480 (1987), 470 (1987).

3. We note this office recently issued Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009), a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including Texas license plate numbers under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

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