July 27, 2012

Ms. Janet I. Monteros

Assistant County Attorney

El Paso County

500 East San Antonio, Room 503

El Paso, Texas 79901

OR2012-11692

Dear Ms. Monteros:

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# 463369.

The El Paso County Sheriff's Office (the "sheriff's office") received requests from the same requestor for three specified incident reports. 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 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." Section 552.101 encompasses information made confidential by other statutes, including section 261.201 of the Family Code, which provides in relevant part

(a) [T]he following information is confidential, is not subject to public release under [the Act] and may be disclosed only for purposes consistent with this code and applicable federal or state law or under rules adopted by an investigating agency:

(1) a report of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect made under this chapter and the identity of the person making the report; and

(2) except as otherwise provided in this section, the files, reports, records, communications, audiotapes, videotapes, and working papers used or developed in an investigation under this chapter or in providing services as a result of an investigation.

. . .

(k) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), an investigating agency, other than the [Texas Department of Family and Protective Services] or the Texas Youth Commission, on request, shall provide to the parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative of a child who is the subject of reported abuse or neglect, or to the child if the child is at least 18 years of age, information concerning the reported abuse or neglect that would otherwise be confidential under this section. The investigating agency shall withhold information under this subsection if the parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative of the child requesting the information is alleged to have committed the abuse or neglect.

(l) Before a child or a parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative of a child may inspect or copy a record or file concerning the child under Subsection (k), the custodian of the record or file must redact:

(1) any personally identifiable information about a victim or witness under 18 years of age unless that victim or witness is:

(A) the child who is the subject of the report; or

(B) another child of the parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative requesting the information;

(2) any information that is excepted from required disclosure under [the Act], or other law; and

(3) the identity of the person who made the report.

Fam. Code § 261.201(a), (k), (l). You assert the submitted information was used or developed in an investigation of alleged or suspected child abuse or neglect under chapter 261 of the Family Code. See id. § 261.001(1), (4) (defining "abuse" and "neglect" for purposes of section 261.201 of Family Code). Upon review, we find the submitted information is within the scope of section 261.201(a). You inform us the requestor is a parent of the child victim and is not alleged to have committed the suspected abuse. Thus, the sheriff's office may not withhold the submitted information from this requestor on the basis of section 261.201(a). See id. § 261.201(k). However, section 261.201(l)(1) states any personally identifiable information about a victim or witness who is under 18 years of age and is not the child of the parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative requesting the information shall be withheld from disclosure. Id. § 261.201(l)(1). You seek to withhold the identifying information of a juvenile witness under section 261.201(l)(1). However, the submitted information reveals the requestor is also this individual's parent. Thus, the sheriff's office may not redact this individual's information from the requestor pursuant to section 261.201(l)(1). Section 261.201(l)(3) provides, however, that the identity of the reporting party must be withheld. Therefore, the sheriff's office must withhold the identifying information of the reporting party, which we have marked, under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 261.201(1)(3). The remaining information does not identify the reporting party. Accordingly, the remaining information is not confidential under section 261.201(l)(3), and the sheriff's office may not withhold it from release under section 552.101 on that ground. Thus, the sheriff's office must release the remaining information to the requestor. ⁽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 L. Coggeshall

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JLC/eb

Ref: ID# 463369

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Because the requestor has a special right of access to the information being released, the sheriff's office must again seek a decision from this office if it receives another request for the same information from another requestor.

POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US
An Equal Employment Opportunity Employer