February 14, 2012

Mr. B. Chase Griffith

For the City of McKinney

Brown & Hofmeister, L.L.P.

740 East Campbell Road, Suite 800

Richardson, Texas 75081

OR2012-02329

Dear Mr. Griffith:

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# 445460 (McKinney ORR # 10-4679).

The McKinney Police Department (the "department"), which you represent, received a request for the requestor's juvenile record. You claim a portion 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 information.

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. This section encompasses information protected by other statutes such as section 58.007 of the Family Code, which provides in pertinent part as follows:

(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 date 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.

. . .

(e) Law enforcement records and files concerning a child may be inspected or copied by a juvenile justice agency as that term is defined by Section 58.101, a criminal justice agency as that term is defined by Section 411.082, Government Code, the child, and the child's parent or guardian.

. . .

(j) Before a child or a child's parent or guardian may inspect or copy a record or file concerning the child under Subsection (e), the custodian of the record or file shall redact:

(1) any personally identifiable information about a juvenile suspect, offender, victim, or witness who is not the child; and

(2) any information that is excepted from required disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code, or other law.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c), (e), (j). Juvenile law enforcement records relating to delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007. See id. § 51.03(a), (b) (defining "delinquent conduct" and "conduct indicating a need for supervision"). 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.

Upon review, we find the submitted information involves juvenile delinquent conduct that occurred after September 1, 1997. Therefore, the submitted information is subject to section 58.007. In this instance, however, the requestor is a child suspect listed in the submitted information. Accordingly, section 58.007(e) allows this requestor access to his own law enforcement records. See id. § 58.007(e). As you acknowledge, section 58.007(j) provides that any personally identifiable information about another juvenile suspect, offender, victim, or witness must be redacted. See id. § 58.007(j)(1). For purposes of section 58.007(j)(1), a juvenile suspect or offender is a child as defined by section 51.02 of the Family Code. See id. § 51.02(2) ("child" means a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age). However, we conclude a juvenile victim or witness, for purposes of section 58.007(j)(1), is a person who is under eighteen years of age. Accordingly, the department must withhold the identifying information we have marked regarding the other juvenile suspects and the juvenile victim under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(j)(1) of the Family Code. Section 58.007(j) further provides that any information excepted from disclosure under the Act or other law must be redacted. See id. § 58.007(j)(2). We note the remaining information contains motor vehicle record information subject to section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ Accordingly, we will address section 552.130.

Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from public disclosure information relating to a motor vehicle title or registration issued by an agency of this state or another state or country. Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(2). Therefore, the department must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.130.

In summary, the department must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(j)(1) of the Government Code, as well as the information we have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. As you raise no further exceptions to disclosure, the remaining information must be released to this requestor. ⁽²⁾

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,

Cynthia G. Tynan

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CGT/em

Ref: ID# 445460

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. The Office of the Attorney General will raise a mandatory exception on behalf of a governmental body but ordinarily will not raise other exceptions. See Open Records Decision Nos. 481 (1987), 480 (1987), 470 (1987).

2. We note that the requestor has a special right of access to some of the information being released in this instance. Because such information is confidential with respect to the general public, if the department receives another request for this information from a different requestor, the department must again seek a ruling from this office.

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