March 17, 2010

Ms. Dahlia Salinas

Records Supervisor

The Edinburg Police Department

1702 South Closner Boulevard

Edinburg, Texas 78539

OR2010-03775

Dear Ms. Salinas:

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#376756.

The Edinburg Police Department (the "department") received a request for seven specified incident reports. You state you have released five of these reports to the requestor. You claim that the two submitted reports are 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 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 of the Government Code encompasses section 261.201 of the Family Code, which provides as follows:

(a) [T]he following information is confidential, is not subject to public release under [the Act] and may be disclosed only for purposes consistent with this code and applicable federal or state law or under rules adopted by an investigating agency:

(1) a report of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect made under this chapter and the identity of the person making the report; and

(2) except as otherwise provided in this section, the files, reports, records, communications, audiotapes, videotapes, and working papers used or developed in an investigation under this chapter or in providing services as a result of an investigation.

Fam. Code § 261.201(a). The information at issue relates to interfering with child custody. We find that you have failed to adequately demonstrate that the information in question constitutes reports of alleged or suspected child abuse or that it was used or developed in investigations of alleged or suspected child abuse under chapter 261 of the Family Code, so as to fall within the scope of section 261.201(a). See id. § 261.001(1)(A) (defining abuse for purposes of Fam. Code ch. 261). Accordingly, we find that the information at issue is not confidential under section 261.201(a) of the Family Code and may not be withheld under this provision.

Section 552.101 also encompasses the doctrine of common-law privacy, which protects information if (1) the information contains highly intimate or embarrassing facts the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) the information is not of legitimate concern to the public. Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be satisfied. Id. at 681-82. This office has found that a compilation of an individual's criminal history is highly embarrassing information, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person. Cf. United States Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749, 764 (1989) (when considering prong regarding individual's privacy interest, court recognized distinction between public records found in courthouse files and local police stations and compiled summary of information and noted that individual has significant privacy interest in compilation of one's criminal history). Furthermore, we find that a compilation of a private citizen's criminal history is generally not of legitimate concern to the public. In this instance, a portion of the submitted information, which we have marked, includes a compilation of a citizen's criminal history and implicates this individual's right to privacy. The department must withhold this information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

In summary, the department must withhold the information we have marked pursuant to section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. The remaining information must be released.

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#376756

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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