April 25, 2011

Ms. Judith N. Benton

Assistant City Attorney

City of Waco

P.O. Box 2570

Waco, Texas 76702-2570

OR2011-05585

Dear Ms. Benton:

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# 419997 (LGL-11-423).

The Waco Police Department (the "department") received a request for eight specified incident reports. You state that some responsive information has been released to the requestor. You claim that some of 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," and encompasses information made confidential by other statutes. Gov't Code § 552.101. You have marked information in the submitted CAD record that you seek to withhold under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. Chapter 772 of the Health and Safety Code relates to local emergency communications districts. Section 772.318 applies to an emergency 9-1-1 district established in accordance with chapter 772, and makes confidential the originating telephone numbers and addresses of 9-1-1 callers that are furnished by a service supplier. See Open Records Decision No. 649 (1996). You indicate that the City of Waco is part of an emergency communication district that was established under section 772.318. ⁽¹⁾ To the extent the telephone number you have marked and the address we have marked are the originating telephone number and address supplied by a 9-1-1 service supplier, the department must withhold that information under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code.

You also claim section 552.101 in conjunction with section 58.007 of the Family Code, which provides in part:

(c) 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); see id. § 51.03(a) (defining "delinquent conduct"for purposes of title 3 of Fam. Code). Section 58.007(c) is applicable to records of juvenile conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997. See Act of June 2, 1997, 75^th Leg., R.S., ch. 1086, §§ 20, 55(a), 1997 Tex. Gen. Laws 4179, 4187, 4199; Open Records Decision No. 644 (1996). The juvenile must have been at least 10 years old and less than 17 years of age when the conduct occurred. See Fam. Code § 51.02(2) (defining "child" for purposes of title 3 of Fam. Code). Section 58.007(c) is not applicable to information that relates to a juvenile as a complainant, victim, witness, or other involved party and not as a suspect or offender. We find report number 07-11372 involves a juvenile offender, so as to fall within the scope of section 58.007(c). It does not appear that any of the exceptions in section 58.007 apply; therefore, the department must withhold report number 07-11372 under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007 of the Family Code.

In summary, to the extent the telephone number you have marked and the address we have marked are the originating telephone number and address supplied by a 9-1-1 service supplier, the department must withhold that information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. The department must withhold report number 07-11372 under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007 of the Family Code. The remaining submitted information must be released to the requestor.

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,

Cindy Nettles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CN/dls

Ref: ID# 419997

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 772.318 applies to an emergency communication district for a county with a population of more than 20,000.

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