S.F. Police Commission Probes Arrests of Newsman, Porn Star

Police commissioners Friday began an investigation of the arrests of newspaper columnist Warren Hinckle and porno star Marilyn Chambers.

Hinckle was arrested on two misdemeanor warrants Wednesday, a week after writing a series of columns in the San Francisco Chronicle critical of the Police Department for using more than a dozen officers to arrest Chambers on Feb. 1 during a live nude performance at a local theater.

The charges against Chambers since have been dropped. Three days after her arrest, the Board of Supervisors removed the licensing of adult theaters from police jurisdiction.

Both Mayor Dianne Feinstein and Police Chief Con Murphy were upset when they learned Hinckle had been picked up on warrants charging him with having an unlicensed dog, violating the leash law and late automobile registration. He paid the $178 fine and was released.

Three officers were sent to arrest Hinckle.

Feinstein said Murphy was “absolutely furious” when he learned of the arrest.

“He said it was the stupidest thing he’d ever seen,” Feinstein said, adding: “I said ‘Do something,’ and he said ‘I am.’ It was dumb, dumb, dumb.”

Murphy said Hinckle’s arrest was lawful but the timing showed “poor judgment.”