Cops raid book store

Police seized mailing lists, an address book and other customer records from Free Forum Books, the Libertarian bookstore in San Francisco that provides space for NAMBLA meetings in the city, on the pretext of arresting a part-time employee of the store. David S. [edit], the employee, lived above the store. He was arrested in October on a warrant for lewd conduct, distribution of harmful material and failure to register as a sex offender. Visiting the store to arrest S., police snatched material that included the NAMBLA Bulletin and gay-oriented magazines. "I will not deny the fact that we sell books that are controversial," said Jim Peron, store co-owner. "That's the function of the bookstore."

Peron explained that San Francisco police began harassing the store after he and others directed an unsuccessful ballot initiative from the store offices to abolish the vice squad. Officers took a variety of material unrelated to the charges against S. Items seized under the warrant included pledge cards with the names and addresses of donors and Peron's personal address book, he said. "It is illegal harassment. They confiscated all the mailing lists they could find. It is clearly an attempt to gather information on Libertarians for their files." Police offered no explanation for the seizure of the material. (Information from the San Francisco Chronicle, 10/26)

source: Article 'Cops Raid Book Store'; NAMBLA Bulletin, vol 8, n. 9; November 1987