November 6, 2012

Mr. Joseph J. Gorfida, Jr.

Assistant City Attorney

City of Richardson Police Department

P.O. Box 831078

Richardson, Texas 75083-1078

OR2012-17787

Dear Mr. Gorfida:

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# 470349 (file no. 12-642).

The Richardson Police Department (the "department") received a request for information related to a named individual in a specified case. You state some responsive information has been released to the requestor. You claim some of the submitted information in Exhibit C is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.108 and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.108 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "[i]nformation held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime . . . if . . . release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation or prosecution of crime[.] Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). A governmental body claiming section 552.108(a)(1) must reasonably explain how and why the release of the requested information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. See id. §§ 552.108(a)(1), .301(e)(1)(A); see also Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977).

You state incident report number 201200096661 relates to a pending and open criminal investigation. Based on your representation and our review, we determine that release of incident report number 201200096661 would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. See Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975) (court delineates law enforcement interests that are present in active cases), writ ref'd n.r.e., 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976).

Section 552.108 does not except from disclosure "basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime." Id. § 552.108(c). Section 552.108(c) refers to the basic front-page information held to be public in Houston Chronicle. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-88; Open Records Decision No. 127 at 3-4 (1976) (summarizing types of information deemed public by Houston Chronicle). With the exception of basic information, the department may withhold incident report number 201200096661 under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾

The remaining information contains Texas motor vehicle record information. Section 552.130 of the Government Code provides information relating to a motor vehicle title or registration issued by a Texas agency is excepted from public release. See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(2). The department must withhold the Texas license plate numbers you have marked in the remaining records under section 552.130 of the Government Code.

In summary, with the exception of basic information, the department may withhold incident report number 201200096661 under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code. The department must withhold the Texas license plate numbers you have marked in the remaining records under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The remaining information must be released.

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,

Cindy Nettles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CN/dls

Ref: ID# 470349

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. As section 552.108 is dispositive, we do not address your remaining argument for this information.

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