January 27, 2010

Mr. Jose Hernandez

Records Clerk

Edinburg Police Department

1702 South Closner Boulevard

Edinburg, Texas 78539

OR2010-01305

Dear Mr. Hernandez:

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# 373014 (Reference ID# 6299).

The Edinburg Police Department (the "department") received a request for information relating to a specified case number. You claim that some of the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.108 and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the information you submitted.

Section 552.108 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "[i]nformation held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime . . . if . . . release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime[.]" Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). A governmental body must reasonably explain how and why section 552.108 is applicable to the information at issue. See id. § 552.301(e)(1)(A); Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You have marked the information that the department seeks to withhold under section 552.108. You indicate that the marked information is related to a pending case and that its release would interfere with the detection and investigation of crime. Based on your representations, we conclude that section 552.108(a)(1) is generally applicable to the marked information. 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).

We note that section 552.108 does not except from disclosure "basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime." Gov't Code § 552.108(c). Section 552.108(c) refers to the basic front-page information held to be public in Houston Chronicle and includes a detailed description of the offense. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-88; Open Records Decision No. 127 at 3-4 (1976) (summarizing types of information deemed public by Houston Chronicle). The department must release basic information, including a detailed description of the offense, even if the information does not literally appear on the front page of an offense or arrest report. The department may withhold the rest of the information you have marked under section 552.108(a)(1).

Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information relating to a motor vehicle title or registration issued by an agency of this state. See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(2). We have marked Texas license plate and vehicle identification numbers that fall within the scope of section 552.130. In this instance, however, the requestor is a representative of an automobile insurance company. We note that section 552.130 protects personal privacy. Thus, if the requestor represents the insurer of the owner of the vehicle to which the marked license plate and vehicle identification numbers pertain, then the requestor has a right of access to that information as the vehicle owner's authorized representative under section 552.023 of the Government Code. See id. § 552.023; Open Records Decision No. 481 at 4 (1987) (privacy theories not implicated when individual requests information concerning himself). ⁽¹⁾ Therefore, if the requestor represents the vehicle owner's insurer, then the marked license plate and vehicle identification numbers may not be withheld from the requestor under section 552.130 and must be released. If the requestor does not represent the vehicle owner's insurer, then the department must withhold the marked license plate and vehicle identification numbers under section 552.130.

In summary: (1) except for the basic information that must be released under section 552.108(c), the information you have marked under section 552.108 of the Government Code may be withheld under section 552.108(a)(1); and (2) the department must withhold the Texas license plate and vehicle identification numbers we have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code, unless the requestor has a right of access to that information as an authorized representative of the vehicle owner under section 552.023 of the Government Code. The rest of the submitted 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,

James W. Morris, III

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JWM/cc

Ref: ID# 373014

Enc: Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 552.023 provides in part that "[a] person or a person's authorized representative has a special right of access, beyond the right of the general public, to information held by a governmental body that relates to the person and that is protected from public disclosure by laws intended to protect that person's privacy interests." Gov't Code § 552.023(a).

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