January 25, 2010

Mr. Mack Reinwand

Assistant City Attorney

Arlington Police Department

P.O. Box 1065

Arlington, Texas 76004-1065

OR2010-01124

Dear Mr. Reinwand:

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# 368706 (APD No. 2009-11-054).

The Arlington Police Department (the "department") received a request for information pertaining to a specified incident. 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 exception encompasses information protected by other statutes, such as section 261.201 of the Family Code, which provides in relevant part:

(a) [T]he following information is confidential, is not subject to public release under [the Act], and may be disclosed only for purposes consistent with this code and applicable federal or state law or under rules adopted by an investigating agency:

(1) a report of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect made under this chapter and the identity of the person making the report; and

(2) except as otherwise provided in this section, the files, reports, records, communications, audiotapes, videotapes, and working papers used or developed in an investigation under this chapter or in providing services as a result of an investigation.

. . .

(k) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), an investigating agency . . . on request, shall provide to the parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative of a child who is the subject of reported abuse or neglect, or to the child if the child is at least 18 years of age, information concerning the reported abuse or neglect that would otherwise be confidential under this section. The investigating agency shall withhold information under this subsection if the parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative of the child requesting the information is alleged to have committed the abuse or neglect.

(l) Before a child or a parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative of a child may inspect or copy a record or file concerning the child under Subsection (k), the custodian of the record or file must redact:

(1) any personally identifiable information about a victim or witness under 18 years of age unless that victim or witness is:

(A) the child who is the subject of the report; or

(B) another child of the parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative requesting the information;

(2) any information that is excepted from required disclosure under [the Act], or other law; and

(3) the identity of the person who made the report.

Fam. Code § 261.201(a), (k), (l). You assert the submitted information was used or developed in an investigation of alleged child abuse or neglect. See id. § 261.001(1), (4) (defining "abuse" and "neglect" for purposes of Fam. Code ch. 261); see also id. § 101.003(a) (defining "child" for purposes of this section as person under 18 years of age who is not and has not been married or who has not had the disabilities of minority removed for general purposes). We agree the submitted information is generally confidential under section 261.201 of the Family Code. However, the requestor is the parent of the child victim identified within the submitted information, and the parent is not alleged to have committed the alleged abuse. In this instance, the department may not use section 261.201(a) to withhold the submitted information from this requestor. Id. § 261.201(k). However, section 261.201(l)(3) states the identity of the reporting party must be withheld. Thus, the department must withhold the identifying information of the reporting party, which we have marked, under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 261.201(l)(3). As you raise no further exception to disclosure of the remaining information, it must be released to this requestor. ⁽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, toll free, at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

Matt Entsminger

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

MRE/rl

Ref: ID# 368706

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Should the department receive another request for these same records from a person to whom release is not authorized under section 261.201(k) of the Family Code, the department should resubmit these records and request another decision. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(a), .302.

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