March 10, 2010

Ms. Luz E. Sandoval-Walker

Assistant City Attorney

City of El Paso

2 Civic Center Plaza, 9^th Floor

El Paso, Texas 79901

OR2010-03477

Dear Ms. Sandoval-Walker:

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# 374510.

The El Paso Police Department (the "department") received a request for information related to case number 09343105. You claim that the requested 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 excepts from disclosure "information that is considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses information protected by other statutes, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code. Law enforcement records involving juvenile offenders and relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007. The relevant language of section 58.007(c) reads as follows:

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), law enforcement records and files concerning a child and information stored, by electronic means or otherwise, concerning the child from which a record or file could be generated may not be disclosed to the public and shall be:

(1) if maintained on paper or microfilm, kept separate from adult files and records;

(2) if maintained electronically in the same computer system as records or files relating to adults, be accessible under controls that are separate and distinct from controls to access electronic data concerning adults; and

(3) maintained on a local basis only and not sent to a central state or federal depository, except as provided by Subchapters B, D, and E.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c). For purposes of section 58.007, "child" means a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age. See id. § 51.02(2). We note, however, that section 58.007(c) is applicable to information that relates to a juvenile as a suspect or offender, and not as a complainant, victim, witness, or other involved party. See id. § 58.007(c). Upon review, we find that while the submitted information contains references to an incident involving juveniles, it does not identify a juvenile as a suspect or offender. Therefore, the department has failed to demonstrate that the information at issue is a juvenile law enforcement record for purposes of section 58.007. Accordingly, the submitted information may not be withheld under section 552.101 on this basis. As you raise no other exception to disclosure, the submitted information must be released to the requestor.

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,

Cindy Nettles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CN/dls

Ref: ID# 374510

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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