January 13, 2011

Ms. Kelley Messer

Assistant City Attorney

City of Abilene

P.O. Box 60

Abilene, Texas 79604-0060

OR2011-00722

Dear Ms. Messer:

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# 406096.

The Abilene Police Department (the "department") received a request for information relating to nine specified street addresses. You indicate the department has no information relating to three of the addresses. ⁽¹⁾ You also state some of the requested information has been released. You have submitted information the department seeks to withhold under sections 552.101 and 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the information you submitted.

Section 552.108(a)(2) 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 . . . 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). A governmental body must reasonably explain how and why section 552.108 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 submitted information is related to concluded investigations that did not result in a conviction or a deferred adjudication. Based on your representations, we conclude section 552.108(a)(2) is generally applicable to the submitted information.

We note 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). Section 552.108(c) refers to the basic front-page information held to be public in Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976). See 531 S.W.2d at 186-88; Open Records Decision No. 127 at 3-4 (1976) (summarizing types of information deemed public by Houston Chronicle). In this instance, the submitted information includes call-for-service reports. In Open Records Decision No. 649 (1996), this office concluded information contained in a computer-assisted dispatch report is substantially the same as basic information. See ORD 649 at 3; see also Open Records Decision No. 394 at 3 (1983) (there is no qualitative difference between information contained in radio cards or radio logs and front-page offense report information expressly held to be public in Houston Chronicle; thus, such information is generally public). Therefore, except for the basic information that must be released under section 552.108(c), the department may withhold the submitted information under section 552.108 of the Government Code.

We note basic information under section 552.108(c) includes a detailed description of the offense. In this instance, the department must withhold some of the information subject to section 552.108(c) under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. Section 552.101 excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. This exception 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 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 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). We have marked information in the call-for-service reports that is highly intimate or embarrassing and not a matter of legitimate public interest. In releasing basic information, the department must withhold the marked information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

In summary: (1) the department may withhold the submitted information under section 552.108(a)(2) of the Government Code, except for basic information under section 552.108(c); and (2) in releasing basic information from the call-for-service reports, the department must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

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# 406096

Enc: Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note the Act does not require a governmental body to release information that did not exist when it received a request or create responsive information. See Econ. Opportunities Dev. Corp. v. Bustamante, 562 S.W.2d 266 (Tex. Civ. App.--San Antonio 1978, writ dism'd); Open Records Decision Nos. 605 at 2 (1992), 555 at 1 (1990), 452 at 3 (1986), 362 at 2 (1983).

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