GENERA 

Honorable Marvin B. Broa, JrCriminal Dietriot Attorney 

Fort I%rbh, .Te~s 

Attention: Ebn. D+xm Roses 

Dsar Si'rr 

opinion &.0-44C2 

Rer Ths effect of Seations 39 and 42 

of House Bill No. 20, 47th Legialatuie. oti the disolosure 'of rsports made by the Dspartment of 

Publio safe* to proseouting officials. 

we ars iu receipt of your letter of February 7, 

quote the folloniag portiona: 

1942, from which we 

"The office.of the Highway Patrol at Fort )Ibrth, acting, they say, und& 

direatiou of Coloael Haner Garrison, Dire&or of the Department of PuLilio 

Safety, will not-file in this office a copy of.their report as to what 

they did or found in510 their investigation. I have seen a number of their 

reports and they draw a diagram of the soene of the ,aooident, whiah would 

be wry helpful, together with their oQrment ~a@ to.what they found out fran 

persons other than the aoaused, to the IRst~iot.Attorney~s Office; *hen 

complaints are filed for drivJ.ng'a motor Vehicle while intoxicated, failing to render aid, or murder without maliae. I& fa$, if they do ,not ohoese 

to file a wanplaint, their underataudiig is that they'are foxbidden by this 

Act to disclose to the proseouting atto.rm@a off$oe anythiug that they-y 

know about the prtioular transaotion, ~hep,int'onnatioa O&I&~ to this offibe 

that there has been a violation of the la&. 

"Our oonstruotion of this Aat is that.they only +hiag,,that is priVilegeed end 

confidential iathe report of the w~m(tde t0 th4 l%&rtment of kulS&O fbfety, not as to the evidenoe.that &ghiz 6; might iiiit show a~violation of the 

lam. 

"I sm sure that Colonel Garrison and his Dspartment.are ,aoting ih aerfeotly 

good faith; tit I em also equally sure that they ha-fe a Disoolioeptioa of 

the effeot of House Bill No. 20. 

"Will you please advise this offlce at your earliest emmenienoe yotm oonstruotion of the duties of the Department of Public Safety a6 to notifying 

the prosecuting officers of such aooideuts where the offense of drunken 

driving, failing to render aid, or murder is involvedf' 
Honorable &rvin H. Brown, Jr., page 2 (O-4402) 

The ~rovisionii of House Bill Do. 20.of the 47th Legislature, 

(Article 6667b;Revised Civil Statutes) which are involved in+his opinion are Sections 39 and 42. Section 39 reads as follows: 

"Aooidents to be reported by persons involvedr - 

*Every person involved in an accident resulting in death, injury, 

or apparent property damage of l?iQ Dollars ($50) or more where one or 

more motor vehicles are involved and vhho is the holder of an opsrator's, 

cammeraial operator's, or chauffeur's license, under the provisions of this 

Act, shall make a report of suoh accident to the Department of Public Safety 

within forty-eight (46) hours. Refusal to make such report shall render 

the holder of such license liable to suspension or revocation of such license. 

Reports required by this Section shall be deemed privileged communications." 

Section 42 provides as follows: 

"Accident reports confidential: - 

"All required accident reports and supplemental reports ahall be 

without prejudice to the individual so repxting and shall be for the confidential us&of the D+artzsent except that the Department,may disclose the 

identity of a person involved in an acaident when such identity is not otherwise knom or v&en such person denieshis presence at such accident. No 

such report shall be used as evidenoe in any trial, civil or 'criminal, arising out of such accident, exaept that the Department shall furnish upon request of any person who has, or claims to haw, made such a report or upon 

demand of any court; a certificate showing that a specified report has or 

has not been received by the Dsparbnenb, solely to prove a compliance or 

failure to cmsply with the requirementthat such report be made to the Department.' 

Ws believe the intention of the Legislature in enacting the above 

seotions was to prevent 'eny violations of the Constitutional inhibitions 

against self-incriminations. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the 

Unite.d States and Article 1, Section .lO of the mustitution of Texas, provide, in substance, that inall criminal prosecutions the accused shall not 

bs compelled to give evidence against himself. This rule applies in any 

kind of oass inwhioh one is called as a tittness including civil and orim- 

,inal oases. See 44 Texas Jurisprudenoe, page 964, et seq., and 12 Texas 

Law Review, page 20, et seqi 

This privilege is discussed in Wigmore on Rvidenoe,~~Volume 8, page 

325, et seq., in which it is said: 

"The protection, under all clauses, extends to all manner, of proceedings in 

which testimony is'to be taken, whether litigous or not, and whether 'sx 

pertef or otherwise/ It;therefore applies in all kinds of courts, and all 

methods of interrogation before a court, in investigations by a grand jury, 

and investigations by a Legislature or a body having legislatwe funotions, 

and in investigations by administrative officials." 
_ .- 

Honorable h&rvin H. Brown, Jr., page"3 (o-4402) 

This privilege,is always personal as is discussed in 44 Texas 

Jurisprudence, page 966, where it is'saidr 

"The privilege of not enswsring the questions on the ground that it vii11 

inoriminate him is the privilege of the witness only; only he may assert 

the privilege of refusing to testify on that ground." 

Privileged ccamsunioations are always held inviolate, but we do not 

believe this rule has ever been carried to the extent of saying that information obtained from other sources cannot be divulged by the person obtaining 

such facts. Thus in discussing the scope of privileged communications between attorney and client, Mr. Wigmore in his work on Evidence, Volwae.6, at 

page 615, et seq., saysr 

"It is therefore not sufficient for the attorney, in invoking the privilege, 

to state that the information oeme somehow to him while acting for his client, nor'that it came from sane particular third person for the benefit of 

the qlient (unless the latter are agents of his client)." 

Ik, believe that the intention of the Legislature in establishing 

the Department of Public Safety as is setforth in Artiole 4413, Sections 4 

and 21 and other ,sections thereof, indicates that the department is to &operate witht.he sheriffs and other local peace officers throughout the State 

for the purpose of the prevention and discovery of orimes and the apprehension of criminals and the promotion of public safety. &ticle 4413, Section 

4, provides* 

"The oommission shall formulate plans and policies for the enforcement of 

the criminal laws and of the traffic end safety laws of the State, the prevention of crime, the detection and apprehension of violators of the laws, 

and for the education of the citizens of the State in the promotion of 

public safety and law observance." 

Artiole 4413, Section 21, providesr 

*The Director . . . shall formulate and put into effeot plans and means of 

cooperating with the sheriffs end local police and peace ofiloers throughout the State for the Purpose of the prevention and discovery of crimes 

and the apprehension of criminals and the promotion of public safety." 

Our interpretation of the above articlea and authorities is that 

the Deparhnent of Public Safety is not authorized to disclose any information contained in reports reoeived from the persons involved in the accident described in thes statutes, but that they are authorized to notify 

the prosecuting officers of all other information relating to oriminal 

offenses which they receive from third persons or obtain during the course 

of their own investigations. 
Rnorable Marvin H. Brown, Jr., Page 4 (o-4402) ~.i.-., 1.. : 

Your request also relates to the authority of the Department to 

furnish proseouting.offiaere with a copy of the report made to it by a 

patrolman in instanoes involving offenses of.drunken driving, failure to 

stop and render aid, or murder, etc. 

Director Garrison advises that'the~Department of Public Safety 

does furnish to such officers such fasts as are discolsed by the investigation end that its patrolmen are instruatsd to cooperate with other 

officers in this respect, hrt thaf.it is the established policy of the 

Departrent not to furnish aomplete copies of such reports for the mason 

that they always contain comments by the patrolman making the report 

which comments are considered confidential. 

I% csn find no legal objection to this established policy of.the 

Department. 

Yours wry truly 

APPRWRDAPR 8, 1942 

/s/GROVRR SELLERS 

FIRST ASSISTART 

ATTORNBY GENERkL 

ATTORNEY GEiNERbL OF TRXAS 

ay /s/Alfred F. Herb&in 

Alfred F. Hebsrlin 

~~A~sistant~ 

APPROVED 

Opinion Casmittee 

By BPlB 

ChaWsan