February 24, 2010

Mr. William P. Chesser

City Attorney for the City of Brownwood

P.O. Box 1389

Brownwood, Texas 76804

OR2010-02769

Dear Mr. Chesser:

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#375474.

The City of Brownwood (the "city"), which you represent, received a request for a copy of the incident report pertaining to case 05-002412 . You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.108(a)(2) excepts from disclosure information concerning an investigation that did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication. See Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(2). A governmental body claiming section 552.108(a)(2) must demonstrate that the requested information relates to a criminal investigation that has concluded in a final result other than a conviction or deferred adjudication. See id. § 552.301(e)(1)(A) (governmental body must provide comments explaining why exceptions raised should apply to information requested); See also Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You provide an affidavit from the city police department stating that the information requested pertains to an investigation by the city police department that has concluded and did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication. Based on your representation and our review, we find that section 552.108(a)(2) is applicable to the information at issue.

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 Publishing Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975), writ ref'd n.r.e., 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976), and includes, among other things, an identification and description of the complainant, a detailed description of the offense, and any property involved. See Open Records Decision No. 127 at 3-4 (1976) (summarizing types of information deemed public by Houston Chronicle). Thus with the exception of basic information, the city may withhold the information you have submitted under section 552.108(a)(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,

Vanessa Burgess

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

VB/jb

Ref: ID#375474

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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