January 24, 2012

Ms. Andrea M. Gardner

City Manager

City of Copperas Cove

P.O. Drawer 1449

Copperas Cove, Texas 76522

OR2012-01131

Dear Ms. Gardner:

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# 447932.

The City of Copperas Cove (the "city") received a request for information involving a named individual. You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.108, 552.130, and 552.147 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the information you submitted.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." ⁽¹⁾ Gov't Code § 552.101. This exception encompasses information other statutes make confidential. Section 58.007 of the Family Code provides in part:

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), law enforcement records and files concerning a child and information stored, by electronic means or otherwise, concerning the child from which a record or file could be generated may not be disclosed to the public and shall be:

(1) if maintained on paper or microfilm, kept separate from adult files and records;

(2) if maintained electronically in the same computer system as records or files relating to adults, be accessible under controls that are separate and distinct from controls to access electronic data concerning adults; and

(3) maintained on a local basis only and not sent to a central state or federal depository, except as provided by Subchapters B, D, and E.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c); see id. § 51.03(a)-(b) (defining "delinquent conduct" and "conduct indicating need for supervision" for purposes of Fam. Code tit. 3). Section 58.007(c) is applicable to records of juvenile conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997. See Act of June 2, 1997, 75^th Leg., R.S., ch. 1086, §§ 20, 55(a), 1997 Tex. Gen. Laws 4179, 4187, 4199; Open Records Decision No. 644 (1996). The juvenile must have been at least 10 years old and less than 17 years of age when the conduct occurred. See Fam. Code § 51.02(2) (defining "child" for purposes of title 3 of Family Code). Section 58.007(c) is not applicable to information that relates to a juvenile as a complainant, victim, witness, or other involved party and not as a suspect or offender. In this instance, the submitted information related to case number 10-2799 involves a juvenile suspect, so as to fall within the scope of section 58.007(c). We therefore conclude the city must withhold that information, which we have marked, under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(c) of the Family Code.

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[.]" Id. § 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 rest of the submitted information is related to a pending criminal case. Based on your representation, we conclude section 552.108(a)(1) is generally applicable to the remaining information. 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 present in active cases), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976).

We note the remaining information includes a citation, which we have marked. Because a copy of a citation is provided to a person who is cited, we find release of the marked citation will not interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. See Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). We therefore conclude the city may not withhold the citation under section 552.108(a)(1).

We also note 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 offense and arrest information held to be public in Houston Chronicle. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-88; Open Records Decision No. 127 at 3-4 (1976) (summarizing types of information deemed public by Houston Chronicle). The city must release basic information, including detailed descriptions of the offenses, even if the information does not literally appear on the front page of an offense or arrest report. Except for basic information and the citation, the city may withhold the remaining information under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code.

Lastly, we note the citation includes the cited person's personal identification and social security numbers. Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information related to a personal identification document issued by an agency of this state or another state or country or a local agency authorized to issue an identification document. See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(3). The city must withhold the personal identification number we have marked in the citation under section 552.130 of the Government Code.

Section 552.147 of the Government Code states "[t]he social security number of a living person is excepted from" required public disclosure under the Act. ⁽²⁾ Id. § 552.147(a). The city may withhold the social security number you have marked in the citation under section 552.147 of the Government Code.

In summary, the city (1) must withhold the marked information related to case number 10-2799 under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(c) of the Family Code; (2) may withhold the rest of the submitted information under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code, except for the marked citation and basic information under section 552.108(c); (3) must withhold the marked personal identification number in the citation under section 552.130 of the Government Code; (4) may withhold the marked social security number in the citation under section 552.147 of the Government Code; and (5) must release the rest of the submitted 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 W. Morris, III

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JWM/em

Ref: ID# 447932

Enc: Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. This office will raise section 552.101 on behalf of a governmental body, as this section is a mandatory exception to disclosure. See Gov't Code §§ 552.007, .352; Open Records Decision No. 674 at 3 n.4 (2001) (mandatory exceptions).

2. We note section 552.147(b) of the Government Code authorizes a governmental body to redact a living person's social security number from public release without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office under the Act.

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