May 11, 2011

Ms. J. Middlebrooks

Assistant City Attorney

Criminal Law and Police Section

City of Dallas

1400 South Lamar

Dallas, Texas 75215

OR2011-06503

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# 420070 (ORR# 2011-2504).

The Dallas Police Department (the "department") received a request for calls for service at a specified address. You claim some of the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽¹⁾

Section 552.101 excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." This section encompasses information protected by other statutes. Chapter 772 of the Health and Safety Code authorizes the development of local emergency communications districts. Sections 772.118, 772.218, and 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code apply only to an emergency 9-1-1 district established in accordance with chapter 772. See Open Records Decision No. 649 (1996). These statutes make confidential the originating telephone numbers and addresses of 9-1-1 callers that are furnished by a service supplier. Id. at 2. Section 772.318 applies to an emergency communication district for a county with a population of more than 20,000. Therefore, to the extent the originating address and telephone numbers of 9-1-1 callers you have marked were supplied by a 9-1-1 service supplier, this information is confidential under section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code and the department must withhold it from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. However, if this information was not provided by a 9-1-1 service supplier to the emergency communication district, then the department may not withhold this information under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 772.318.

Section 552.101 also encompasses the doctrine of common-law privacy, which protects information that (1) contains highly intimate or embarrassing facts, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) is not of legitimate concern to the public. Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). The types of information considered intimate and embarrassing by the Texas Supreme Court in Industrial Foundation included information relating to sexual assault, pregnancy, mental or physical abuse in the workplace, illegitimate children, psychiatric treatment of mental disorders, attempted suicide, and injuries to sexual organs. Id. at 683. This office has found the following types of information are excepted from required public disclosure under common-law privacy: some kinds of medical information or information indicating disabilities or specific illnesses, see Open Records Decision Nos. 470 (1987) (illness from severe emotional and job-related stress), 455 (1987) (prescription drugs, illnesses, operations, and physical handicaps); personal financial information not relating to the financial transaction between an individual and a governmental body, see Open Records Decision Nos. 600 (1992), 545 (1990); and identities of victims of sexual abuse, see Open Records Decision Nos. 440 (1986), 393 (1983), 339 (1982). Some of the submitted information is highly intimate or embarrassing and is not of legitimate concern to the public; therefore, the department must withhold this information, which we have marked, under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy. Upon review, however, we find the remaining information is either not highly intimate or embarrassing, or it is of legitimate public interest. Therefore, the remaining information is not confidential under common-law privacy, and the department may not withhold it under section 552.101 on that ground.

Section 552.130 of the Government Code provides information relating to a motor vehicle operator's license, driver's license, motor vehicle title, or registration issued by a Texas agency is excepted from public release. Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1), (2). You have marked a social security number to be withheld under section 552.130; however, we find this information does not relate to a motor vehicle operator's license, driver's license, motor vehicle title, or registration issued by a Texas agency. Accordingly, the department may not withhold the marked social security number under section 552.130. ⁽²⁾ Nevertheless, we agree the department must withhold the remaining information you have marked under section 552.130. ⁽³⁾

To conclude, the department must withhold the originating address and telephone numbers of 9-1-1 callers you have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code if they were supplied by a 9-1-1 service supplier; however, if this information was not provided by a 9-1-1 service supplier to the emergency communication district, then the department may not withhold this information under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 772.318. The department must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy. Finally, with the exception of the marked social security number, the department must withhold the information you have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The department must release the remaining information.

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 L. Coggeshall

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JLC/eb

Ref: ID# 420070

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. 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.

2. We note a governmental body may redact a living person's social security number from public release without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office under the Act. See Gov't Code § 552.147(b).

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 Texas driver's license and license plate numbers, under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general opinion.

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