March 26, 2012

Mr. Benjamin Sampract

Assistant City Attorney

City of Fort Worth

1000 Throckmorton Street, 3rd Floor

Fort Worth, Texas 76102

OR2012-04424

Dear Mr. Sampract:

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# 452868 (PIR No. W014879).

The City of Fort Worth (the "city") received a request for information pertaining to a specified accident. You state the city does not possess some information responsive to the request. ⁽¹⁾ You also state the city has released a copy of the Texas Peace Officer's Crash Report Form CR-3 to the requestor. See Transp. Code § 550.065(c)(4) (governmental body must release accident report to a person who provides two of the following three items of information: (1) date of the accident; (2) name of any person involved in the accident; and (3) specific location of the accident). You claim the remaining submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Initially, we note the submitted information contains a document that has been filed with a court. Court-filed documents are expressly public under section 552.022(a)(17) of the Government Code. Gov't Code § 552.022(a)(17). Such information must be released unless it is confidential under the Act or other law. You claim the court-filed document is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. However, section 552.108 is a discretionary exception that protects a governmental body's interests and, therefore, does not make information confidential under the Act. See Open Records Decision Nos. 665 at 2 n.5 (2000) (discretionary exceptions generally), 586 (1991) (governmental body may waive section 552.108). Therefore, the city may not withhold court-filed document, which we have indicated, under section 552.108. Consequently, the city must released the marked court-filed document pursuant to section 552.022(a)(17).

You claim the remaining submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. Section 552.108 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 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 remaining information relates to a Tarrant County District Attorney's Office pending prosecution. Based on this representation, we conclude release of this information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. See Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975) (court delineates law enforcement interests that are present in active cases), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curium, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976). We note, however, the information at issue includes a DIC-24 statutory warning. The city provided a copy of this form to the arrestee. You have not explained how releasing this information, which has already been seen by the arrestee, would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. See Gov't Code § 5521.108(a)(1). Accordingly, the DIC-24 form may not be withheld under section 552.108.

Additionally, 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" information held to be public in Houston Chronicle. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-187; see also Open Records Decision No. 127 (1976) (summarizing types of information considered to be basic information). Accordingly, with the exception of the DIC-24 form and basic information, the city may withhold the remaining submitted information under section 552.108(a)(1).

We note the DIC-24 form contain the arrestee's driver's license number. Section 552.130 of the Government Code provides that information relating to a motor vehicle operator's license or driver's license issued by an agency of this state or another state or country is excepted from public release. ⁽²⁾ Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1). The city must withhold the arrestee's driver's license number in the DIC-24 form under section 552.130.

In summary, the city must release the marked court-filed document pursuant to section 552.022(a)(17) of the Government Code. Except for the DIC-24 form and basic information, the city may withhold the remaining information under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code. In releasing the DIC-24 form, the city must withhold the arrestee's driver's license number under section 552.130 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,

Ana Carolina Vieira

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ACV/ag

Ref: ID# 452868

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. The Act does not require a governmental body to disclose information that did not exist at the time the request was received. Econ. Opportunities Dev. Corp. v. Bustamante, 562 S.W.2d 266 (Tex. Civ. App.--San Antonio 1978, writ dism'd); Open Records Decision No. 452 at 3 (1986).

2. 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).

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