November 1, 2010

Mr. Floyd M. Akers

City Attorney

City of Pflugerville

P.O. Box 679

Pflugerville, Texas 78691-0679

OR2010-16496

Dear Mr. Akers:

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# 403292.

The Pflugerville Police Department (the "department") received a request for a portion of a specified offense report. You claim 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 information you submitted.

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). You state that the submitted offense report is related to a pending investigation. In this instance, however, the requestor only seeks access to "the narrative portion of the offense report, such that a detailed description of the offense is revealed." We note that section 552.108 does not except from disclosure "basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime." See id. § 552.108(c). Section 552.108(c) refers to the basic front-page information held to be public in Houston Chronicle. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-88. Basic information includes, among other things, a detailed description of the offense. See Open Records Decision No. 127 at 3-4 (1976) (summarizing types of information deemed public by Houston Chronicle). Therefore, a detailed description of the offense must be released to the requestor pursuant to section 552.108(c) of the Government Code. We do not address the public availability of the rest of the submitted information, which is not responsive to this request.

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,

James W. Morris, III

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JWM/em

Ref: ID# 403292

Enc: Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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