February 23, 2012

Mr. Tyler F. Wallach

Assistant City Attorney

City of Fort Worth

1000 Throckmorton Street

Fort Worth, Texas 76102

OR2012-02794

Dear Mr. Wallach:

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# 446227 (PIR No. W013504)

The City of Fort Worth (the "city") received a request for report numbers 07-98622 and 11-114145. You claim that 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. Section 552.101 encompasses information that other statutes make confidential, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code. Section 58.007 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 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.

. . .

(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[.]

Fam. Code § 58.007(c), (e), (j)(1). Juvenile law enforcement records relating to delinquent conduct and conduct indicating a need for supervision that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007. See id. § 51.03 (defining "delinquent conduct" and "conduct indicating a need for supervision"). For the purposes of section 58.007(j), 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 person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age). Upon review, we agree report numbers 07-98622 and 11-114145 involve juveniles engaged in delinquent conduct and in conduct indicating a need for supervision. Thus, these reports are within the scope of section 58.007(c). As it does not appear any of the exceptions to confidentiality under section 58.007(e) apply to report number 07-98622, this report must be withheld in its entirety under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 58.007(c) of the Family Code. However, we note, and you acknowledge, the requestor in this instance is a parent of a juvenile offender listed in report number 11-114145. Accordingly, this report may not be withheld from this requestor under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 58.007(c) of the Family Code. Id. § 58.007(e). Nevertheless, any personally identifiable information concerning other juvenile suspects, offenders, victims, or witnesses must be redacted. See id. § 58.007(j)(1). Accordingly, the city must withhold the information you have marked under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 58.007(j)(1) of the Family Code. As no further exceptions to disclosure have been raised, the remaining information must be released. ⁽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,

Nneka Kanu

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

NK/ag

Ref: ID# 446227

Enc. Submitted documents

cc: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

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

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