 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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July 9, 2012 Ms. Andrea D. Russell Counsel for the City of Southlake Taylor Olson Adkins Sralla Elam, L.L.P. 6000 Western Place, Suite 200 Fort Worth, Texas 76107 OR2012-10499 Dear Ms. Russell: 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# 463403. The Southlake Department of Public Safety (the "department") received a request for information related to a specified incident number. You claim some of the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the information you submitted. 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. This exception encompasses information other statutes make confidential. Section 58.007 of the Family Code 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 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); see id. § 51.03(a)-(b) (defining "delinquent conduct" and "conduct indicating need for supervision" for purposes of Fam. Code tit. 3). Section 58.007(c) is applicable to records of juvenile conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997. See Act of June 2, 1997, 75th Leg., R.S., ch. 1086, §§ 20, 55(a), 1997 Tex. Gen. Laws 4179, 4187, 4199; Open Records Decision No. 644 (1996). The submitted information involves three juvenile offenders, so as to be generally confidential under section 58.007(c). As you acknowledge, however, the requestor is a parent of one of the juveniles involved. As such, the requestor has a right to inspect law enforcement records concerning her child pursuant to section 58.007(e). See id. § 58.007(e). Section 58.007(j) provides, however, that any personally identifiable information concerning other juvenile suspects, offenders, victims, or witnesses must be redacted. See id. § 58.007(j)(1). For purposes of section 58.007(j)(1), 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 a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age). Thus, the department must withhold the information you have marked, along with the information we have marked, that identifies the other juveniles involved under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(j)(1) of the Family Code. The department must release the rest of the submitted information to this requestor pursuant to section 58.007(e) of the Family Code. (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, James W. Morris, III Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division JWM/bhf Ref: ID# 463403 Enc: Submitted documents c: Requestor (w/o enclosures) Footnotes1. Because this requestor has a right of access under section 58.007(e) to information the department would be required to withhold from the general public, the department should request another decision if it receives a request for this same information from a different requestor. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(a), .302.
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