January 6, 2012

Ms. Delietrice Henry

Open Records Assistant

Plano Police Department

P.O. Box 860358

Plano, Texas 75086-0358

OR2012-00301

Dear Ms. Henry:

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# 441642 (ORR# ALIM101411).

The Plano Police Department (the "department") received a request for information concerning a specified incident and all information regarding police activity at a specified address from a specified time period. You state the department has released some of the requested information. You claim 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 information.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from public disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses information made confidential by other statutes, such as section 261.201 of the Family Code, which provides in relevant part:

(a) [T]he following information is confidential, is not subject to public release under [the Act] and may be disclosed only for purposes consistent with this code and applicable federal or state law or under rules adopted by an investigating agency:

(1) a report of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect made under this chapter and the identity of the person making the report; and

(2) except as otherwise provided in this section, the files, reports, records, communications, audiotapes, videotapes, and working papers used or developed in an investigation under this chapter or in providing services as a result of an investigation.

. . .

(k) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), an investigating agency, other than the [Texas Department of Family and Protective Services] or the Texas Youth Commission, on request, shall provide to the parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative of a child who is the subject of reported abuse or neglect, or to the child if the child is at least 18 years of age, information concerning the reported abuse or neglect that would otherwise be confidential under this section. The investigating agency shall withhold information under this subsection if the parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative of the child requesting the information is alleged to have committed the abuse or neglect.

Fam. Code § 261.201(a), (k). You represent the submitted information was used or developed in an investigation of suspected child abuse or neglect. See id. §§ 261.001(1), (4) (defining "abuse" and "neglect" for purposes of chapter 261 of Family Code), 101.003(a) (defining "child" as person under eighteen years of age who is not and has not been married and who has not had disabilities of minority removed for general purposes). Accordingly, we find the submitted information is subject to section 261.201. You acknowledge, however, that the requestor is the father of the alleged child victim listed in this information. Furthermore, we note the requestor is not alleged to have committed the abuse or neglect at issue. Therefore, the department may not withhold the submitted information from the requestor under section 261.201(a) of the Family Code. See id. § 261.201(k). Accordingly, as you raise no other exceptions to disclosure of the submitted information, it must be released to the requestor. ⁽¹⁾

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,

Kenneth Leland Conyer

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

KLC/agn

Ref: ID# 441642

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. The requestor has a special right of access under section 261.201(k) of the Family Code to the information being released. See Fam. Code § 261.201(k). Accordingly, if the department receives another request for this information from a different requestor, then the department should again seek a decision from this office. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301, .302; Open Records Decision No. 673 (2001).

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