January 18, 2011

Ms. Jessica Eales

Assistant City Attorney

City of Houston

P.O. Box 368

Houston, Texas 77001-0368

OR2011-00795

Dear Ms. Eales:

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# 406243 (GC No. 17887).

The Houston Police Department (the "department") received a request for arrest information, including jail booking blotters and offense reports, pertaining to the requestor. ⁽¹⁾ You state the department is releasing some of the requested information. You claim that the submitted 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.

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. This section encompasses information made confidential by statute, such as former section 51.14(d) of the Family Code. Prior to its repeal by the Seventy-fourth Legislature, section 51.14(d) of the Family Code provided for the confidentiality of juvenile law enforcement records pertaining to conduct occurring before January 1, 1996. Act of May 27, 1995, 74th Leg., R.S., ch. 262, § 100, 1995 Tex. Gen. Laws 2517, 2591; see also Open Records Decision No. 181 (1977) (concluding that former section 51.14(d) of the Family Code excepts police reports that identify juvenile suspects or furnish basis for their identification). You claim Exhibit 2 is confidential under section 51.14. We note section 51.14 is inapplicable in this instance because the juvenile conduct at issue occurred after January 1, 1996. However, section 58.007 of the Family Code may be applicable to this information. Section 58.007 of the Family Code makes confidential juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997. For purposes of section 58.007, "child" means a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age. See Fam. Code § 51.02(2). Section 58.007(c) provides as follows:

Except as provided by Subsection (d), law enforcement records and files concerning a child and information stored, by electronic means or otherwise, concerning the child from which a record or file could be generated may not be disclosed to the public and shall be:

(1) if maintained on paper or microfilm, kept separate from adult files and records;

(2) if maintained electronically in the same computer system as records or files relating to adults, be accessible under controls that are separate and distinct from controls to access electronic data concerning adults; and

(3) maintained on a local basis only and not sent to a central state or federal depository, except as provided by Subchapters B, D, and E.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c). Upon review, we find Exhibit 2 involves juvenile delinquent conduct occurring after September 1, 1997. Thus, this information is subject to section 58.007(c). It does not appear that any of the exceptions in section 58.007 of the Family Code apply. Therefore, Exhibit 2 is confidential pursuant to section 58.007(c) of the Family Code and must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code.

Section 552.108(a)(2) 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). You state that Exhibit 3 relates to a criminal investigation that did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication. Based on your representation and our review of the information at issue, we conclude that section 552.108(a)(2) is applicable to Exhibit 3.

We note, and you acknowledge, that basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime is not excepted from disclosure under section 552.108. Gov't Code § 552.108(c). Such basic information refers to the information held to be public in Houston Chronicle. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-87; Open Records Decision No. 127 (1976) (summarizing types of information considered to be basic information). With the exception of basic information, the department may withhold Exhibit 3 under section 552.108(a)(2) of the Government Code.

In summary, the department must withhold Exhibit 2 under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(c) of the Family Code. With the exception of basic information, the department may withhold Exhibit 3 under section 552.108(a)(2) of the Government Code.

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,

Tamara H. Holland

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

THH/tf

Ref: ID# 406243

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note the department requested and received clarification of the request. See Gov't Code § 552.222 (if request for information is unclear, governmental body may ask requestor to clarify request); see also Open Records Decision No. 31 (1974) (when presented with broad requests for information rather than for specific records, governmental body may advise requestor of types of information available so that request may be properly narrowed).

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