September 29, 2010

Ms. Courtney Alvarez

City Attorney

City of Kingsville

P.O. Box 1458

Kingsville, Texas 78364

OR2010-14831

Dear Ms. Alvarez:

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# 395188 (City ID# 2010-195).

The Kingsville Police Department (the "department") received a request for all arrest reports involving a named individual for a specified time period, including arrest reports for a specified type of offense. You claim the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ We have considered the exception you claim.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information that is considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. This section encompasses the common-law right of privacy, which protects information that (1) contains highly intimate or embarrassing facts, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) is not of legitimate concern to the public. Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). 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. U.S. 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.

The present request requires the department to compile unspecified law enforcement records concerning the individual named in the request. We find this request for unspecified law enforcement records implicates the named individual's right to privacy. Therefore, to the extent the department maintains law enforcement records depicting the named individual as a suspect, arrestee, or criminal defendant, the department must generally withhold such information under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy.

However, we note the requestor appears to be the spouse of the individual named in the request. As such, the requestor may be acting as the named individual's authorized representative, and thus, have a special right of access to law enforcement records depicting her spouse as a suspect, arrestee, or criminal defendant, to the extent they exist. See Gov't Code § 552.023(b) (governmental body may not deny access to person to whom information relates or person's agent on grounds that information is considered confidential by privacy principles). Thus, if the requestor is acting as the authorized representative of the named individual, then she has a special right of access to law enforcement records depicting this individual as a suspect, arrestee, or criminal defendant, to the extent they exist. However, if the requestor is not acting as the authorized representative of the named individual, then the department must withhold such information under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy, to the extent it exists.

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,

Christina Alvarado

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CA/tp

Ref: ID# 395188

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Although you also appear to raise section 552.108 of the Government Code, you provided no arguments in support of withholding the requested information under this exception. Thus, the department has waived its claim under section 552.108. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(e)(1)(A), .302.

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