May 9, 2011

Ms. Teresa J. Brown

Senior Open Records Assistant

City of Plano Police Department

P.O. Box 860358

Plano, Texas 75086-0358

OR2011-06393

Dear Ms. Brown:

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# 421396 (WOLT040111).

The Plano Police Department (the "department") received a request for information pertaining to a specified incident. You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽²⁾

Initially, we note the information you have submitted includes the breath test results of an arrestee's blood alcohol content. Full information concerning the analysis of the specimen must be made available upon the request of the person who has given the specimen at the request of a peace officer. Transp. Code § 724.018. Here, the requestor is the individual who submitted the specimen. As a general rule, the exceptions to disclosure found in the Act do not apply to information other statutes make public. See Open Records Decision Nos. 623 at 3 (1994), 525 at 3 (1989). Thus, the department must release the breath test results to the requestor.

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). 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 information at issue relates to a pending criminal investigation. Based on your representation, we conclude section 552.108(a)(1) is generally applicable to information at issue. See Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975) (court delineates law enforcement interests that are present in active cases), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976). Thus, section 552.108(a)(1) is applicable to the remaining information.

We note, however, 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. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-187; see also Open Records Decision No. 127 (1976) (summarizing types of information considered to be basic information). Accordingly, except for basic information, the department may withhold the remaining information under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code.

In summary, the department must release the breath test results pursuant to section 724.018 of the Transportation Code. Except for basic information, the department may withhold the remaining submitted information under section 552.108(a)(1) 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,

Ana Carolina Vieira

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ACV/eeg

Ref: ID# 421396

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Although you also raise section 552.101 of the Government Code as an exception to disclosure of the requested information, you have provided no arguments regarding the applicability of this section. We therefore assume you no longer assert section 552.101. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(b), (e), .302.

2. We assume the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open records letter does not reach, and therefore does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records to the extent those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office.

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