City Of Houston's Letter To The Texas Attorney General

Crry op HousroN Legal Department

BillWhite Mayor Arturo Michel City Attorney Legal Department P.O. Box 368 Houston, Texas 77001 -0368

February 3, 2009

The Honorable Greg Abbott Texas Attorney General P. O. Box 12548 Austin, Texas 7871 1-2$48

Ciiy Hall Annex 900 Bagby, 4th Floor Houston, Texas 77002 T.713.247.20Q0

F.713 247.1017 www. houstontx.gov

Attention: Open Records Division

Re:

AG lD # 338881; Texas Public Information Act request dated January 10, 2009, from Craig Johnson, forthe most detailed incident-leveldata available from the Housion Police Department for every crime committed covering the years 2008, 2CI07, and 2006

Dear GeneralAbbott: This is a follow-up to my letter dated January 27,2A09 {Exhibit 1A}. The City of Houston ("City") received the above-referenced request on January 12, 2009 (Exhibit 1). This City notes that Monday, January 19, 2009, was observed as a City holiday. By copy of this letter, the City is informinE the requester that the City believes the requesied documents {Exhibit 2} is excepted from public disclosure pursuant to g 552.101 of the Texas Government Code. Because responsive information is voluminous, a representative sample (Exhibit 2) has been provided for your review.

Section 552.101 excepts "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." This section encompasses both commonla,w and constitutional privacy, as wellas information protected by other statutes. pursuant to the Texas Supreme Court decision in lndustrial Foundatian of the Sauth v. Texas lndustrial Accident Baard, 54A S.W. 2d 668 (Tex. '1976), ceft denied,43O U.S. 931 (1977), S 552.101 applies to information when its disclosure would constitute the common-law tort of invasion of privacy through the disclo'sure of private facts. To be within this common-law tort, the information must (1) contain highly intimate orembarrassing facts about a person's private affairs such that its release would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person and (2) be of no legitimate concern to the public. /d at 685; see Open Records Decisions Nos.569 (1999), 628 (1994), and 393 (1983). A compilation of an individual's criminal history is highly embarrassing information, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person. Cf" U.S. Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm.-For Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749,794 (1989). Moreover, a compilation of a private citizen's criminal history is generally not of legitimate concern to the public.

Council

M€mbers:

Toni Lawrence Jarvis Johnson Anne Clutterbuck Wanda Adams Mike Sullivan M. J. Khan pam Holm Adrian Garcia James G. Rodriguez Peter Brown Meiissa Noriega Sue Lovell Ronald C. Green Jolanda "Jo" Jones Controiler: Annise D. parker

The Honorable Greg Abbott February 3, 2009 Page 2

The requester is asking for the name, sex, race, age, date of birth of the oflender and other information for every crime committed from 2006 to 2008. The requester is in effect seeking criminal history information of all possible suspects, arrestees, or defendants for a certain time period. The City believes that release of such information would amount to releasing a de facto criminal history of all suspects, arrestees, and defendants, thus viofating several individuals' common-law right to privacy. See tlnited Stafes Dep't af Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749 (1989); Housfon Chronicle Publishing Co.,531 S.W.2d at 188, lndustrial Faund. of the Soufh y. Iexas lndus. Accident Bd., 540 s.W.zd 668 (Tex. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S, 931 (jgr7). Therefore, the City believes it is prohibited by law from releasing Exhibit 2. See Trx. Gov'tCope Aruru. $ 552.101 (Vernon 1994). The City respectfully requests an opinion on this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me at (713) 247-2000 if you need additional information"

Very truly yo,Hrr,,,

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Y$6nan Chang -,,''' j Assistant City Attgdrey

Enclosures

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Craig Johnson

Carolyn Williams, HPD (w/o Exhibits) G:\GOVERNMENTAL\YSC\PlA-09\Johnson

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