Several press organizations threw their weight yesterday behind author Derek Finkle, who faces the seizure of a vast collection of material he used to prepare a book on the Robert Baltovich murder case.

"We are starting to see a disturbing pattern where police appear to be going after journalists and authors who have written material that is critical of the police or embarrasses them," said Christopher Waddell, a spokesman for PEN Canada. "It certainly looks like an attempt to intimidate journalists and authors to not go back and investigate crimes."

Paul Knox, a spokesman for Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and chair of Ryerson University journalism, said: "The free press has to be very concerned when police and other authorities go after a writer's research materials."

It is doubly worrisome when the writer involved has delved deeply into a controversial case that raises serious questions about police and prosecutors, Mr. Knox said. "It is hard to avoid the conclusion that somebody is looking for a scapegoat or to deflect attention away from what happened," he said.

In an interview afterward, prosecutor Philip Kotanen said the Crown simply wants to inquire into the "source material" behind a book that has been widely read in the community, provided Judge Then says it's legal.

"This is not a situation where we are looking simply for evidence that is consistent with guilt," Mr. Kotanen added. "We're looking for anything legally available that would be helpful and consistent with innocence or guilt. Unless we look at material that is out there, we could be guilty of tunnel vision."