§ 30.006.Certain Law Enforcement Agency Records Not Subject to Discovery

A discovery protection for police files, with a judicial escape valve and two express carve-outs.

The section applies only to a nonparty agency — subsection (b) excludes an action in which a law enforcement agency is a party. An agency being sued has no shelter here.

The bar has two elements, and both must hold. A court may not order discovery from a nonparty law enforcement agency if the material deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime, or with an investigation that did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication, and its release would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of criminal acts.

The second element does substantial work. Material about a crime is not protected merely for being about a crime — the release must interfere with law enforcement.

The second category is the notable one: an investigation that did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication. Someone investigated and never charged has an interest in that file staying closed, and civil litigants should not be able to reach it.

Subsection (d) is the escape valve. On motion, the court may order discovery after in camera inspection if it determines the discovery is relevant and there is a specific need for it. The judge reads the file first; "specific need" is more than relevance.

Subsection (e) carves out two categories entirely: a collision report under Chapter 550 of the Transportation Code, and photographs, field measurements, scene drawings, and collision reconstruction done in conjunction with the investigation of the underlying collision. Ordinary traffic collision material stays discoverable, which keeps the section from swallowing routine personal injury practice.