August 7, 2012

Ms. J. Middlebrooks

Assistant City Attorney

Criminal Law and Police Section

City of Dallas

1400 South Lamar

Dallas, Texas 75215

OR2012-12356

Dear Ms. Middlebrooks:

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# 461173 (PIR# 2012-05945).

The Dallas Police Department (the "department") received a request for a specified police report. You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽¹⁾

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 section encompasses section 261.201 of the Family Code, which provides in relevant part:

(a) Except as provided by Section 261.203, the 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 [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.

Fam. Code § 261.201(a), (k). You state the submitted information was used or developed in an investigation of alleged child abuse. See id. § 261.001(1) (defining "abuse" for purposes of chapter 261 of the Family Code); see also Penal Code § 22.04(c) (defining "child" for purposes of injury to a child as person 14 years of age or younger). Based on your representations and our review, we find the submitted information is within the scope of section 261.201 of the Family Code. We note, however, the requestor may be the parent, managing conservator, or legal representative of the alleged child victim listed in the submitted information. Further, the requestor is not the individual alleged to have committed the abuse. See Fam. Code § 261.201(k). Therefore, if the requestor is not the parent, managing conservator, or legal representative of the alleged child victim, the department must withhold the submitted information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 261.201(a) of the Family Code. If the requestor is the alleged child victim's the parent, managing conservator, or legal representative, the department may not use section 261.201(a) to withhold the report from the requestor. In that instance, as no further exceptions to disclosure have been raised, the department must release the submitted information to the requestor. ⁽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,

Nneka Kanu

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

NK/bhf

Ref: ID# 461173

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We assume the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open records letter does not reach, and, therefore, does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records to the extent those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office.

2. We note the information being released contains confidential information to which the requestor has a right of access. See Fam. Code § 261.201(k). Accordingly, if the department receives another request for this particular information from a different requestor, then the department should again seek a decision from this office.

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