March 23, 2010

Mr. B. Chase Griffith

Brown & Hofmeister, L.L.P.

740 East Campbell Road, Suite 800

Richardson, Texas 75081

OR2010-04057

Dear Mr. Griffith:

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# 378400.

The McKinney Police Department (the "department"), which you represent, received a request for information pertaining to two specified incidents. You claim that the requested 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 "[i]nformation held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime . . . if . . . it is information that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime only in relation to an investigation that did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication[.]" Gov't Code §552.108(a)(2). You state that the submitted information relates to criminal investigations that did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication. Based on your representation and our review of the information at issue, we conclude that section 552.108(a)(2) is applicable to the submitted information.

We note that basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime is not excepted from disclosure under section 552.108. Gov't Code § 552.108(c). Such basic information refers to the information held to be public in Houston Chronicle. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-87; Open Records Decision No. 127 (1976) (summarizing types of information considered to be basic information). With the exception of basic information, the department may withhold the submitted information under section 552.108(a)(2) 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# 378400

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note, and you acknowledge, that the department would ordinarily be required to withhold some of the basic information to protect the present requestor's privacy. The requestor has a right, however, to his own private information. See Gov't Code § 552.023(a); Open Records Decision No. 481 at 4 (1987) (privacy theories not implicated when individual requests information concerning herself). Should the department receive another request for these same records from a person who would not have a right of access to this requestor's private information, the department should resubmit these records and request another decision. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(a), .302.

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