March 15, 2010

Mr. Samuel D. Hawk

Assistant City Attorney

Criminal Law and Police Division

City of Dallas

1400 South Lamar

Dallas, Texas 75215

OR2010-03677

Dear Mr. Hawk:

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# 377901 (DPD ORR 2010-1484).

The Dallas Police Department (the "department") received a request for information related to a specified incident. You claim that portions of the submitted information are excepted from disclosure under sections 552.108 and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information. ⁽¹⁾

Initially, we note that the submitted information includes the blood alcohol test results of an individual's blood alcohol content. Full information concerning the analysis of the specimens must be made available upon the request of the person who has given specimens at the request of a peace officer. Transp. Code § 724.018. Because the requestor is the individual whose blood alcohol content is at issue, the department must release the blood alcohol test results to this requestor.

You claim that some of the remaining information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. Section 552.108(a)(1) 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). Generally, a governmental body claiming section 552.108(a)(1) 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 submitted report relates to a pending criminal investigation and prosecution. Based upon your representation and our review, we find that section 552.108(a)(1) is applicable to the remaining information you have marked. 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., 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976) (per curiam) (court delineates law enforcement interests that are present in active cases). The department may, therefore, withhold the remaining information you have marked pursuant to section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code.

Next, you have marked some of the information under section 552.130 of the Government Code. Section 552.130 excepts from public disclosure information that relates to a motor vehicle operator's or driver's license or permit issued by an agency of this state or a motor vehicle title or registration issued by an agency of this state. See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1)-(2). Upon review, we agree that the information you have marked consists of Texas motor vehicle record information that must generally be withheld under section 552.130. However, the requestor is the owner of one of the vehicles at issue. Section 552.130 protects privacy interests, and the person to whom such information relates has a right of access to such information under section 552.023 of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾ Thus, the department must release the information we have marked under section 552.130 as it pertains to the requestor's vehicle. The department must withhold the remaining information you have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽³⁾

In summary, the department must release the blood alcohol test results to this requestor pursuant to section 724.018 of the Transportation Code. The department may withhold the remaining information you marked under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code. Except for the information pertaining to the requestor's vehicle which we have marked for release, the department must withhold the marked Texas motor vehicle record information under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The remaining information must be released to the requestor. ⁽⁴⁾

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# 377901

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

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.

2. Section 552.023(a) provides 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).

3. We note that this office recently issued Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009), a previous determination to all governmental bodies, which authorizes withholding of ten categories of information, including Texas driver's license and license plate numbers under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

4. Because some of the information to be released is confidential with respect to the general public, if the department receives another request for this information from a different requestor, the department must again seek a ruling from this office. See Gov't Code § 552.023.

POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US
An Equal Employment Opportunity Employer