June 6, 2012

Ms. Elizabeth L. White

Ross, Banks, May, Cron & Cavin, P.C.

2 Riverway, Suite 700

Houston, Texas 77056-1918

OR2012-08702

Dear Ms. White:

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# 455766 (City Reference No.: PIR 1915-B.).

The City of League City (the "city"), which you represent, received a request for a specified police report. You claim the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.108 and 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.108(a)(2) 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 . . . it is information that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime only in relation to an investigation that did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication[.]" Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(2). 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). You state the submitted information is related to a criminal investigation that concluded in a result other than conviction or deferred adjudication. Based on your representation, we conclude section 552.108(a)(2) is applicable in this instance.

We note section 552.108 does not except from disclosure "basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime." Id. § 552.108(c). Basic information refers to the information held to be public in Houston Chronicle Publishing Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976). See Open Records Decision No. 127 (1976) (summarizing types of information deemed public Houston Chronicle). We note basic information does not include motor vehicle record information encompassed by section 552.130 of the Government Code. ORD 127 at 3-4. In this instance, the submitted information includes computer-assisted-dispatch ("CAD") records. In Open Records Decision No. 649 (1996), this office concluded information contained in a CAD report is substantially the same as basic information. See ORD 649 at 3; see also Open Records Decision No. 394 at 3 (1983) (there is no qualitative difference between information contained in radio cards or radio logs and front-page offense report information expressly held to be public in Houston Chronicle; thus, such information is generally public). Therefore, except for basic information under section 552.108(c), the city may withhold the submitted information under section 552.108(a)(2) of the Government Code. ⁽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,

Ana Carolina Vieira

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ACV/ag

Ref: ID# 455766

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Although you also raise section 552.101 of the Government Code, you have provided no arguments regarding the applicability of this section. Therefore, we assume you no longer assert section 552.101 of the Government Code. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(b), (e), .302. Furthermore, although you also raise section 552.023 of the Government Code, we note that section is not an exception to disclosure under subchapter C of the Act. See id. § 552.023.

2. As our ruling is dispositive, we need not address your remaining argument against disclosure.

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