March 17, 2010

Ms. Jaime French

Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP

For the City of Schertz

300 Convent Street, Suite 2200

San Antonio, Texas 78205-3792

OR2010-03762

Dear Ms. French:

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# 377915.

The City of Schertz (the "city"), which you represent, received a request for information pertaining to a specified citation, including documents and video. 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 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 state the submitted information relates to a pending criminal case and the release of this information would interfere with the prosecution of this case. Based on this representation and our review, we conclude section 552.108(a)(1) is generally applicable to the submitted 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, however, that the submitted information includes a citation. Because a copy of a citation is provided to an individual who is cited, we find that release of the submitted citation will not interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. See Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). We therefore conclude that the citation may not be withheld under section 552.108(a)(1). With the exception of the citation, which must be released, the city may withhold the submitted information under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾

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# 377915

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. In this instance, the requestor has a special right of access to the Texas motor vehicle information being released. If the city receives another request for this same information from an individual who does not have a right of access to the information, the city should resubmit the information to us and request another ruling. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301, .302; Open Records Decision No. 673 (2001).

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