July 28, 2011

Ms. Teresa J. Brown

Senior Open Records Assistant

City of Plano Police Department

P.O. Box 860358

Plano, Texas 75086-0358

OR2011-10856

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# 429544 (FONB062211).

The Plano Police Department (the "department") received a request for information related to a specified arrest. You state some responsive information has been released to the requestor. You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽¹⁾

Initially, we note that the information you have submitted includes the blood 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 a specimen at the request of a peace officer. Transp. Code § 724.018. Here, the requestor is the spouse of the individual who submitted the specimen. Thus, if the requestor is an authorized representative of the individual at issue, the department must release the blood test results to the requestor. If, however, the requestor is not an authorized representative of the individual at issue, we consider the test results with the remaining information.

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 that the remaining information is related to a pending criminal case. You also state the Collin County District Attorney's Office objects to the release of the information at issue because prosecution is pending. Based on these representations, we agree that release of the remaining information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. 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).

We note, however, section 552.108 does not except from disclosure "basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime." Id. § 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, with the exception of the basic information, the department may withhold the remaining submitted information under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code.

In summary, if the requestor is the authorized representative of the individual who provided the specimen, the department must release the blood test results pursuant to section 724.018 of the Transportation Code. With the exception of basic information, which must be released, the department may withhold the remaining submitted information pursuant to 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,

Cindy Nettles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CN/dls

Ref: ID# 429544

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We assume that 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 that those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office.

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