If a law enforcement dispatcher records a 911 call on his/her private phone and then plays it later for other's amusement (outside of law enforcement) and for no legitimate law enforcement purpose, is any crime being committed?
Case in point, a 911 call was made for an embarrasing medical situation/emergency which was recorded and played to others.....
I know it should be against policy, but any law violation? This will help my research team; i.e. me and the Ranger.
Posts: 109 | Location: Kingsville, Texas, USA | Registered: July 19, 2011
It seems significant that the information played for the amusement of others concerned an identified person's medical condition. Health care information generally is considered confidential and is not subject to disclosure under the Public Information Act ("PIA"). See Health & Safety Code sec. 181.006(2).
I don't know if you can stretch belittlement of the subject of the call into "harm" for purposes of Penal Code sec. 39.06(b).
It would, however, seem that your thoughtless dispatcher has distributed information that would be considered confidential under the PIA. See Gov't Code sec. 552.101 (recognizing exception to required disclosure for "information considered to be confidential by law"); see also Gov't Code sec. 552.022(a) (recognizing information expressly confidential under "other" law as outside scope of PIA's plenary disclosure provision), Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-237 (1980) (records of emergency medical service which personally identify patients were unavailable under Open Records Act [former name of PIA]). Distribution of information considered confidential by the PIA is, essentially, a class B misdemeanor. See Gov't Code sec. 552.352(a), (b) (offense punishable by fine not to exceed $1,000, confinement in county jail for not more than six months). It's also official misconduct. See id. at (c).
Posts: 1233 | Location: Amarillo, Texas, USA | Registered: March 15, 2001
