January 11, 2011

Ms. J. Middlebrooks

Assistant City Attorney

Criminal Law and Police Section

City of Dallas

1400 South Lamar

Dallas, Texas 75215

OR2011-00531

Dear Ms. Middlebrooks:

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# 405832 (PIR No. 2010-9897).

The Dallas Police Department (the "department") received a request for information relating to a specified internal affairs control number involving a named police officer. You claim some of the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.117, 552.130, and 552.136 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽¹⁾

Initially, we note the submitted information includes information that is excepted from disclosure under section 552.102(a) of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾ Section 552.102(a) excepts from disclosure "information in a personnel file, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." Gov't Code § 552.102(a). The Texas Supreme Court recently held section 552.102(a) excepts from disclosure the dates of birth of state employees in the payroll database of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Tex. Comptroller of Pub. Accounts v. Attorney Gen. of Tex. & The Dallas Morning News, Ltd., No. 08-0172, 2010 WL 4910163 (Tex. Dec. 3, 2010) (Dec. 20, 2010, motions for reconsideration and rehearing pending). Having carefully reviewed the information at issue, we have marked the information that must be withheld under section 552.102(a) of the Government Code.

Section 552.117(a)(2) of the Government Code excepts from disclosure the home address, home telephone number, and social security number of a peace officer, as well as information that reveals whether the officer has family members, regardless of whether the officer complies with sections 552.024 or 552.1175 of the Government Code. Gov't Code § 552.1117(a)(2). Section 552.117(a)(2) adopts the definition of peace officer found at article 2.12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Upon review, we agree the department must withhold the information you have marked under section 552.117(a)(2).

Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information relating to a motor vehicle operator's or driver's license or permit issued by an agency of this state. See id. § 552.130(a)(1). The department must withhold the Texas driver's license number you have marked under section 552.130. ⁽³⁾

Section 552.136 of the Government Code provides in part that "[n]otwithstanding any other provision of [the Act], a credit card, debit card, charge card, or access device number that is collected, assembled, or maintained by or for a governmental body is confidential." Id. § 552.136(b); see id. § 552.136(a) (defining "access device"). You state the employee identification number you have marked is the same number used for City of Dallas credit union bank accounts. Based on your representation, we agree the department must withhold the marked employee identification number under section 552.136.

In summary, the department must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.102(a) of the Government Code. The department must withhold the information you have marked under section 552.117(a)(2) of the Government Code. The Texas driver's license number you have marked must be withheld under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The employee identification number you have marked must be withheld under section 552.136 of the Government Code. 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,

Amy L.S. Shipp

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ALS/tf

Ref: ID# 405832

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. This letter ruling assumes that the submitted representative sample of information is truly representative of the requested information as a whole. This ruling neither reaches nor authorizes the department to withhold any information that is substantially different from the submitted information. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(e)(1)(D), .302; Open Records Decision Nos. 499 at 6 (1988), 497 at 4 (1988).

2. The Office of the Attorney General will raise a mandatory exception like section 552.102 on behalf of a governmental body, but ordinarily will not raise other exceptions.

3. We note this office issued Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009), a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including a Texas driver's license number under section 552.130, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US
An Equal Employment Opportunity Employer