November 20, 2012

Ms. Michele Tapia

Assistant City Attorney

City of Carrollton

1945 East Jackson Road

Carrollton, Texas 75006

OR2012-18740

Dear Ms. Tapia:

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# 475851 (City ID No.: PD-277).

The City of Carrollton (the "city") received a request for two specified incident reports.  You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.108, 552.130, and 552.137 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ We have considered the exceptions 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." ⁽²⁾ Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 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:

. . .

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

Fam. Code § 58.007(c), (e), (j)(2). Thus, under section 58.007(c), law enforcement records relating to a juvenile engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision on or after September 1, 1997, are confidential. See id. § 51.03(a), (b) (defining "delinquent conduct" and "conduct indicating a need for supervision"). For purposes of section 58.007(c), a "child" is a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age at the time of the reported conduct. See id. § 51.02(2). Upon review, we find the submitted information consists of law enforcement records that involve juvenile delinquent conduct that occurred after September 1, 1997. Accordingly, this information is generally subject to section 58.007(c).

However, in this instance, the requestor is a parent of the juvenile offender listed in the reports at issue. Therefore, this requestor has a right to inspect information concerning her child under section 58.007(e). Id. § 58.007(e). Accordingly, the city may not withhold the information at issue from this requestor under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(c) of the Family Code. However, section 58.007(j)(2) 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). Thus, we will consider your remaining arguments against disclosure.

Section 552.108(a)(1) 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 that claims an exception to disclosure under section 552.108 must reasonably explain how and why this exception is generally applicable to the information at issue. See id. §§ 552.108(a)(1), .301(e)(1)(A); Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You state the information you have highlighted relates to an active criminal case. Based upon your representation and our review, we find section 552.108(a)(1) is generally applicable to the information you have highlighted. See Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976) (court delineates law enforcement interests that are present in active cases). Accordingly, the city may withhold the information you have highlighted under section 552.108(a)(1).

You also assert section 552.130 of the Government Code for some of the remaining information. This section 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. See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(2). You seek to withhold the requestor's vehicle's license plate number and vehicle identification number under section 552.130. Because section 552.130 protects personal privacy, the requestor has a right of access to her own motor vehicle record information under section 552.023 of the Government Code. See id § 552.023(a) ("[a] person or a person's authorized representative has a special right of access, beyond the right of the general public, to information held by a governmental body that relates to the person and that is protected from public disclosure by laws intended to protect that person's privacy interests"); Open Records Decision No. 481 at 4 (1987) (privacy theories not implicated when individuals request information concerning themselves). Accordingly, this highlighted information may not be withheld under section 552.130.

Section 552.137 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "an e-mail address of a member of the public that is provided for the purpose of communicating electronically with a governmental body," unless the member of the public consents to its release or the e-mail address is of a type specifically excluded by subsection (c). Gov't Code § 552.137(a)-(c). We note you seek to withhold the requestor's e-mail address under this section. However, the requestor has a right of access to her own e-mail address pursuant to section 552.137(b) of the Government Code. See id. § 552.137(b). Therefore, the city may not withhold the requestor's e-mail address under section 552.137 of the Government Code.

In summary, the city may withhold the information you have highlighted under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code. The remaining information must be released. ⁽³⁾

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,

Ana Carolina Vieira

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ACV/ag

Ref: ID# 475851

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Although you do not raise section 552.137 of the Government Code in your brief to this office, we understand you to raise this section based on your markings in the submitted information.

2. 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).

3. 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 city receives another request for this information from a different requestor, the city must again seek a ruling from this office.

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