 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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February 1, 2010 Ms. J. Middlebrooks Assistant City Attorney Criminal Law and Police Section City of Dallas 1400 South Lamar Dallas, Texas 75215 OR2010-01521 Dear Ms. Middlebrooks: 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# 368795. The City of Dallas (the "city") received a request for information pertaining to a specified arson investigation. You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.108, and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information. (1) We first note that the submitted information includes court documents. Section 552.022(a)(17) of the Government Code provides for required public disclosure of "information that is also contained in a public court record," unless the information is expressly confidential under other law. Gov't Code § 552.022(a)(17). Although you seek to withhold the court documents, which we have marked, under section 552.108 of the Government Code, this section is a discretionary exception to disclosure that protects a governmental body's interests and may be waived. See Open Records Decision Nos. 665 at 2 n.5 (2000) (discretionary exceptions generally), 177 at 3 (1977) (statutory predecessor to Gov't Code § 552.108 subject to waiver). As such, section 552.108 is not other law that makes information expressly confidential for the purposes of section 552.022(a)(17). Therefore, the city may not withhold any of the information in the marked court documents under section 552.108. As you raise no further exceptions for this information, it must be released. We now turn to your arguments for the submitted information that is not subject to section 552.022. Section 552.108 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. §§ 552.108(a)(1), .301(e)(1)(A); see also Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You inform us that the Department of Justice requests that the information at issue not be released because it pertains to a pending criminal investigation. Based upon this representation, we conclude that the release of the information at issue 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). Therefore, the city generally may withhold the information at issue under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code We note, however that basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime is not excepted from disclosure under section 552.108. Gov't Code § 552.108(c). Such basic information refers to the information held to be public in Houston Chronicle. See Open Records Decision No. 127 (1976) (summarizing types of information considered to be basic information). Therefore, with the exception of basic information, the department may withhold the remaining information under section 552.108(a)(1). In summary, (1) the marked court documents must be released pursuant to section 552.022(a)(17) of the Government Code; and (2) the city may withhold the remaining information under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code, with the exception of basic information. (2) 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# 368795 Enc. Submitted documents c: Requestor (w/o enclosures)
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.
As our ruling is dispostive, we need not address your remaining arguments. POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |