November 1, 2012

Ms. Delietrice Henry

Open Records Assistant

Plano Police Department

P.O. Box 860358

Plano, Texas 75086-0358

OR2012-17518

Dear Ms. Henry:

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# 469687 (ORR# SARE081312).

The Plano 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 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." Gov't Code § 552.101. This section encompasses information protected by other statutes, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code, which provides in pertinent part as follows:

(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.

. . .

(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; and

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

Fam. Code § 58.007(c), (e), (j). Juvenile law enforcement records relating to delinquent conduct and 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(a), (b) (defining "delinquent conduct" and "conduct indicating a need for supervision" for purposes of Fam. Code § 58.007). 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 incident. See id. § 51.02(2). We find the submitted information consists of law enforcement records that involve juvenile delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision that occurred after September 1, 1997. Accordingly, the submitted information is generally subject to section 58.007(c).

However, in this instance, the requestor is one of the juvenile offenders listed in the report at issue. Therefore, this requestor has a right to inspect information concerning himself under section 58.007(e). Id. § 58.007(e). Accordingly, the department may not withhold the submitted information from this requestor under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(c) of the Family Code. However, personally identifiable information concerning any other juvenile suspects, offenders, victims, or witnesses must be redacted pursuant to section 58.007(j)(1) of the Family Code. See id. § 58.007(j)(1). Accordingly, the department must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(j)(1) of the Family Code. Additionally, section 58.007(j)(2) of the Family Code provides that information subject to any other exception to disclosure under the Act or other law must be redacted. See id. § 58.007(j)(2). We note some of the remaining information is subject to section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ Thus, we will address the applicability of this exception to the remaining information.

Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information that relates to a motor vehicle title or registration issued by an agency of this state or another state or country. Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(2). Upon review, we find the department must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.130.

In summary, the department must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(j)(1) of the Family Code. The department must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The remaining information must be released. ⁽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# 469687

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. The Office of the Attorney General will raise a mandatory exception on behalf of a governmental body, but ordinarily will not raise other exceptions. See Open Records Decision Nos. 481 (1987), 480 (1987), 470 (1987).

2. We note the requestor has a special right of access to the information being released in this instance. Because such information is confidential with respect to the general public, if the department receives another request for this information from a different requestor, the department must again seek a ruling from this office.

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