June 28, 2010

Mr. Samuel D. Hawk

Assistant City Attorney

Criminal Law and Police Division

City of Dallas

1400 South Lamar

Dallas, Texas 75215

OR2010-09526

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# 389819 (ORR 2010-4872).

The Dallas Police Department (the "department") received a request for service numbers 123997-X and 130601-X. You claim that some of the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

You claim portions of the submitted information, which you have marked, are excepted from disclosure under section 552.108(a)(1) 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). A governmental body that claims an exception to disclosure under section 552.108 must reasonably explain how and why this exception 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 information at issue relates to pending criminal investigations. Based on your representation and our review, we conclude that section 552.108(a)(1) is applicable to the information at issue. See Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14^th 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).

However, we note that section 552.108 does not except from disclosure basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime. Gov't Code § 552.108(c). Basic information refers to the information held to be public in Houston Chronicle. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-87. Basic information includes, among other things, a detailed description of the offense and the property involved. See id. at 179-80, 185-87; see also Open Records Decision No. 127 (1976) (summarizing types of information considered to be basic information). We note you have marked the entire narrative portion of service number 130601-X as information you seek to withhold under section 552.108. However, the remaining portions of service number 130601-X do not contain information sufficient to satisfy the requirement that a "detailed description of the offense" be released as basic information. See ORD 127. Therefore, the department must generally release basic information, including the property involved in service number 123997-X and a detailed description of the offense in service number 130601-X, even if the information does not literally appear on the front page of an offense or arrest report. See Houston Chronicle, 531 S.W.2d at 186-88; ORD127 at 3-4. The department may withhold the rest of the information at issue under section 552.108(a)(1).

Portions of the basic information about one of the listed offenses include private 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 encompasses common-law privacy, which protects information that is highly intimate or embarrassing, such that its release would be highly objectionable to a person of ordinary sensibilities, and of no legitimate public interest. See Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). Common-law privacy encompasses the specific types of information that are held to be intimate or embarrassing in Industrial Foundation. See id. at 683 (information relating to sexual assault, pregnancy, mental or physical abuse in workplace, illegitimate children, psychiatric treatment of mental disorders, attempted suicide, and injuries to sexual organs). This office has determined that other types of information also are private under section 552.101. See generally Open Records Decision No. 659 at 4-5 (1999) (summarizing information attorney general has held to be private). Therefore, the department must withhold the information you have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

In summary, (1) the department may withhold the information you have marked under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code, except for the basic information subject to release under section 552.108(c), including the property involved in service number 123997-X and a detailed description of the offense in service number 130601-X; and (2) the department must withhold the information you have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. The rest of the submitted 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,

Cindy Nettles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CN/dls

Ref: ID# 389819

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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