November 27, 2012

Mr. John Ohnemiller

First Assistant City Attorney

City of Midland

P.O. Box 1152

Midland, Texas 79701

OR2012-18948

Dear Mr. Ohnemiller:

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# 473146 (No. 09-63).

The Midland Police Department (the "department") received a request for information related to a specified incident involving two named individuals. You claim 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 information you submitted.

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 exception encompasses information made confidential by other statutes, including section 58.007 of the Family Code. Section 58.007(c) provides 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 data 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.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c). Section 58.007(c) is applicable to records of juvenile conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997. See Act of June 2, 1997, 75^th Leg., R.S., ch. 1086, §§ 20, 55(a), 1997 Tex. Gen. Laws 4179, 4187, 4199; Open Records Decision No. 644 (1996). The juvenile must have been at least 10 years old and less than 17 years of age when the conduct occurred. See Fam. Code § 51.02(2) (defining "child" for purposes of Fam. Code title 3). Although you contend the submitted information is confidential under section 58.007(c), we note the information at issue is related to a traffic stop. Section 58.007(c) does not make information related to traffic offenses confidential. See id. §§ 51.02(16) (defining traffic offense), 51.03(a) (delinquent conduct does not include traffic offense), 51.03(b) (conduct indicating need for supervision does not include traffic offense). We therefore conclude the submitted information is not confidential under section 58.007(c) of the Family Code and may not be withheld on that basis under section 552.101 of the Government Code.

We note some of the submitted information falls within the scope of section 552.130 of the Government Code, which excepts from disclosure information related to a motor vehicle title or registration issued by an agency of this state or another state or country. ⁽¹⁾ See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(2). The department must withhold the license plate number that appears in the submitted report and video recording under section 552.130(a)(2) of the Government Code. The rest of the submitted 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,

James W. Morris, III

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JWM/bhf

Ref: ID# 473146

Enc: Submitted information

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. This office will raise section 552.130 on behalf of a governmental body, as this section is a mandatory exception to disclosure. See Gov't Code §§ 552.007, .352; Open Records Decision No. 674 at 3 n.4 (2001) (mandatory exceptions).

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