July 21, 2011

Ms. J. Middlebrooks

Assistant City Attorney

Criminal Law and Police Section

City of Dallas

1400 South Lamar

Dallas, Texas 75215

OR2011-10419

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# 424565 (DPD Public Information request #2011-3867).

The Dallas Police Department (the "department") received a request for 1) the number of felony cases originating in three specified police beats during a specified time period; 2) the number of drug related calls in the specified police beats during a specified time period; 3) the number of parolees currently living in the specified police beats; 4) the number of repeat offender felony cases originating from the specified police beats during a specified time period; and 5) the annual recidivism rate for the specified police beats for three specified years. You claim some of the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽¹⁾

Initially, we note the department did not submit for our review information responsive to a portion of the request. Although you state the department submitted a representative sample of information, the submitted information only relates to the portion of the request seeking information related to parolees. No portion of the submitted representative sample pertains to the remaining portions of the request. Thus, we find the submitted information is not representative of the information sought in these remaining portions. Please be advised this open records letter applies to only the types of information you have submitted for our review. Therefore, this opinion 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. See Gov't Code § 552.302 (where request for attorney general decision does not comply with requirements of section 552.301, information at issue is presumed to be public). Because you have not submitted information responsive to the remaining portions of the request for our review, we assume you have released it. See id. §§ 552.301, .302. If you have not released this information, you must do so at this time. See Open Records Decision No. 664 (2000) (if governmental body concludes that no exceptions apply to requested information, it must release information as soon as possible).

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. Section 552.101 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). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be established. Id. at 681-82. This office has found a compilation of an individual's criminal history is highly embarrassing information, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person. Cf. U.S. Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749, 764 (1989) (when considering prong regarding individual's privacy interest, court recognized distinction between public records found in courthouse files and local police stations and compiled summary of information and noted that individual has significant privacy interest in compilation of one's criminal history). Moreover, we find a compilation of a private citizen's criminal history is generally not of legitimate concern to the public. However, this request does not seek a compilation of an individual's criminal history; rather, the request is for certain information pertaining to specified areas. Such a request does not implicate an individual's common-law right of privacy. Further, we find that none of the submitted information is highly intimate or embarrassing and of no legitimate concern to the public. Accordingly, the department may not withhold any of the submitted information as a criminal history compilation under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy. As you raise no additional exceptions against disclosure, the submitted information must be released.

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 Wilcox

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

TW/dls

Ref: ID# 424565

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.

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