February 27, 2012

Mr. David K. Walker

County Attorney

Montgomery County

207 West Phillips, 1^st Floor

Conroe, Texas 77301

OR2012-02890

Dear Mr. Walker:

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# 447790 (ORR #2011-6898).

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office (the "sheriff's office") received a request for a specified incident report. You state you will redact information as permitted by sections 552.130(c) and 552.147(b) of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ You claim portions of the submitted information are excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾

We have considered the claimed exceptions and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.108(a)(1) 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 release of the information at issue would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. See id. § 552.301(e)(1)(A) (governmental body must provide comments explaining why exceptions raised should apply to information requested); see also Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You inform us, and provide an affidavit from the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office stating, the requested information pertains to a pending criminal prosecution. Based on these representations and our review of the information, we conclude release of the information at issue would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of a crime. See Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975) (court describes law enforcement interests that are present in active cases), writ ref'd per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976). Therefore, with the exception of the information you have marked for release, the sheriff's office may withhold the submitted information under 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,

Misty Haberer Barham

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

MHB/eb

Ref: ID # 447790

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 552.130 of the Government Code authorizes a governmental body to redact, without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office, the motor vehicle record information described in subsections 552.130(a)(1) and (a)(3). See Gov't Code § 552.130(c); see also id. § 552.130(d)-(e) (requestor may appeal governmental body's decision to withhold information under section 552.130(c) to attorney general and governmental body withholding information pursuant to section 552.130(c) must provide certain notice to requestor). 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 an attorney general decision under the Act. See id. § 552.147(b).

2. Although you also raise section 552.101 of the Government Code, you have not presented arguments explaining how this exception applies to the submitted information, as required by section 552.301. Thus, this ruling does not address section 552.101. See id. §§ 552.301(e)(1)(A), .302.

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