July 6, 2012

Ms. Kathleen Weisskopf

Police Legal Advisor

Legal Division

Arlington Police Department

Mail Stop 04-200

P.O. Box 1065

Arlington, Texas 76004-1065

OR2012-10399

Dear Ms. Weisskopf:

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# 458389.

The Arlington Police Department (the "department") received a request for a specified report. ⁽¹⁾ You claim the 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.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." ⁽²⁾ Gov't Code § 552.101. This section encompasses information other statutes make confidential, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code, which makes confidential juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997. Fam. Code § 58.007(c). Section 58.007 provides, in part:

(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.

Id. § 58.007(c). For purposes of section 58.007(c), "child" means a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age at the time of the reported conduct. See id § 51.02(2). Juvenile law enforcement records relating to juvenile delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007(c). See id. § 51.03 (defining "delinquent conduct" and "conduct indicating a need for supervision"). Upon review, we find the submitted information involves a child engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision that occurred after September 1, 1997. As such, we find the submitted information is subject to section 58.007(c) of the Family Code. It does not appear any of the exceptions in section 58.007 apply to the submitted information. Therefore, the department must withhold the submitted information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(c) of the Family Code. As our ruling is dispositive, we need not address your remaining argument against disclosure.

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,

Charles Galindo Jr.

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CG/bs

Ref: ID# 458389

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. You note the department sought and received clarification of the information requested. See Gov't Code § 552.222 (providing that if request for information is unclear, governmental body may ask requestor to clarify request); see also City of Dallas v. Abbott, 304 S.W.3d 380, 387 (Tex. 2010) (holding that when a governmental entity, acting in good faith, requests clarification or narrowing of an unclear request for public information, the ten-day period to request an attorney general ruling is measured from the date the request is clarified).

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. Open Records Decision Nos. 481 (1987), 480 (1987), 470 (1987).

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