The general manager of the Blue Mouse Theatre believes Salt Lake police officers acted unfairly last week in seizing a film police believe is obscene.
Randy Lucky sent a letter Monday to Salt Lake Mayor Palmer DePaulis, expressing his dismay at the manner in which police seized "Cafe Flesh," which contains material vice officers say crosses the line of legal decency."As a businessman and taxpayer, I find it appalling that (police) needed to bring seven men down to accomplish what a simple phone call would have done," Lucky says in the letter.
Police officers served a search warrant on the theater about 10 p.m. last Wednesday, shortly after the projectionist had started "Cafe Flesh," a movie dealing with sexuality following a nuclear disaster.
No criminal charges, however, have been filed yet as a result of the confiscation.
Lucky said the confiscation came as a surprise to him. In the past, he writes, the theater has had an informal agreement with the city prosecutor's office regarding adult films. If police felt the theater was showing a questionable film, theater managers and prosecutors would talk about it.
If the managers then felt the film was pornographic, they would cease showing it, according to the letter.
"Because of this, we feel (the vice officers') surprise tactics were unnecessary," the letter states. "The vice-squad did not receive any complaints from the public; they initiated this on their own."
Lucky also told the mayor he is upset about possibly incriminating statements vice officers made to reporters concerning the film and the theater.
The letter states that "Cafe Flesh" is a popular art film and was shown several years ago at the old Broadway Theater without any repercussions from city vice officers.