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404 Media • 37일 전

경관, 번호판 인식 카메라로 여성 스토킹 "반짝이는 게 보여서"

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7/10
핵심 요약

미국 플로리다 경찰관이 TV 촬영장에서 만난 여성을 경찰 데이터베이스와 자동 번호판 인식(ALPR) 카메라로 불법 조회하고 추적·단속한 사건의 바디캠 영상이 공개되었습니다. 이 사건은 경찰 감시 도구가 스토킹에 악용되는 실태를 보여주며, 전국적으로 최소 50건 이상의 유사 사례가 확인되어 감시 기술의 통제 문제가 부각되고 있습니다.

번역된 본문

404 Media가 확보한 바디캠 영상에 한 경찰관이 경찰 데이터베이스와 번호판 인식 카메라를 이용해 TV 촬영장에서 만난 여성을 조사하고, 스토킹하고, 불법적으로 검문한 이유를 설명하는 장면이 담겨 있다. 해당 경관은 영상에서 "솔직히, 반짝이는 게 보였고, 장난치고 그랬다"며 "그걸 시스템에 입력했을 때 '젠장'이라고 생각했다"고 말했다.

404 Media는 플로리다 경찰관 라마 로맨(Lamar Roman)에 대한 조사 과정을 담은 1시간이 넘는 바디캠 영상을 입수했다. 로맨은 Apple TV 드라마 '배드 몽키(Bad Monkey)' 촬영장에서 한 여성을 만난 뒤, 정부 운전면허 데이터베이스를 불법적으로 조회해 그녀를 조사했고, 그녀의 차량 번호판을 경찰 '핫 리스트(hot list)'에 등록해 자동 번호판 인식(ALPR) 카메라를 지날 때마다 알림을 받도록 설정했다. 또한 그녀를 추적하려고 과속하다가 정면충돌 사고를 일으킬 뻔했으며, 스토킹 끝에 불법적으로 차량을 세워 검문했다.

404 Media는 앞서 로맨의 순찰차 영상을 공개한 바 있으며, 이번 영상에는 로맨에게 왜 그런 행동을 했는지 묻는 경찰서 조사 장면, 피해자의 신원 보호를 위해 익명화된 피해자 인터뷰, 그리고 로맨이 자택 앞에서 체포되는 장면이 담겨 있다.

입수된 바디캠 영상에 따르면, 로맨을 조사한 형사는 체포 당시 그에게 "이겨내야 할 거야, 브로"라고 말했고, 이후 피해자에게 로맨이 "뉘우치고 있다"며 사건을 SNS에 게시하지 말 것을 권유했다. 영상에서 조사관은 피해자에게 "우리는 경관들이 데이터베이스를 남용해 왔고, 몇 번이고 '그런 용도가 아니라고' 말해왔다. 예쁜 여자를 보면 데이터베이스에서 조회하면 안 된다. 그런 용도가 아니다"라고 말한 것으로도 나타났다.

이 영상은 남용을 일삼는 경찰이 번호판 인식 카메라 같은 정부 감시 도구를 어떻게, 왜 사용해 피해자를 감시하고 스토킹하는지, 피해자가 이러한 감시 사실을 어떻게 통보받는지, 그리고 이런 범죄로 체포된 경관이 어떤 처우를 받는지에 대한 전례 없는 통찰을 제공한다.

이 영상이 특히 주목받는 이유는 전국에서 수십 명의 경찰관이 Flock 및 기타 ALPR 시스템을 악용해 전 배우자, 전 연인, 무작위 인물을 스토킹하다 적발됐기 때문이다. 404 Media가 7월 초 이 문제를 보도했을 때 Flock은 "15건의 남용 사례를 인지하고 있다"고 주장했지만, 404 Media와 지역 언론, 그리고 Institute of Justice의 보고서는 그보다 훨씬 많은 사례를 발견했다. 이후 워싱턴 포스트는 "최소 50건"의 사례를 확인했고, 현재 Flock의 CEO 개릿 랭글리(Garrett Langley)는 자사 시스템이 "많은 나쁜 경관을 잡아냈다. 엄청나게 많다. 내가 예상했던 것보다 훨씬 많다"고 말하고 있다. (로맨은 Turing이라는 회사가 만든 Guardian이라는 ALPR 시스템을 사용했다.)

"예쁜 여자를 보면 데이터베이스에서 조회하면 안 된다. 그런 용도가 아니다"

가장 충격적인 장면은 로맨을 조사하고 심문·체포한 제나 뮬러(Jenna Moeller) 형사가 피해자와 나눈 인터뷰에서 나온다. 뮬러는 피해자에게 스톤킹의 전모를 알린 사람이다. 404 Media는 피해자의 이름을 공개하지 않으며, 신원 보호를 위해 업로드 영상에서 목소리를 변조했다.

뮬러는 피해자에게 "지금부터 어떤 정보를 알려드릴 텐데, 불쾌할 수 있다"고 운을 뗀다. 그러면서 로맨이 정확히 어떻게 그녀를 찾아냈는지 설명하고, 경찰의 데이터베이스 남용 사건을 조사한 것이 이번이 처음이 아니라고 말했다.

뮬러는 "그는 '배드 몽키' 촬영장에서 당신을 만나 플러팅을 했다. 그리고 실제로 우리 데이터베이스를 사용해 당신을 조회했다. 당신이 누구인지, 어디 사는지 알아보기 위해 여러 번 조회했다. 안타깝게도 당신의 정보에 접근했다. 우리는 DAVID라는 시스템이 있는데, 운전면허 데이터베이스다"라고 말했다. "운전면허 정보, 서명, 보유 차량, 사진을 열람했다. 각 차량과 사진을 보면서 당신인지 확인한 흔적이 보인다. 그런 다음 다른 시스템을 사용해 이름과 차량 번호판 번호를 조회했다. 주소, 생년월일도 포함해서다. 그는 촬영 당일 해당 정보에 접근했다."

"내가 가장 우려하는 부분은, 잘 들어보세요. 우리는 경관들이 데이터베이스를 남용한 사례가 있었고..."

원문 보기
원문 보기 (영어)
Body camera footage obtained by 404 Media shows a police officer explaining why he used police databases and license plate reader cameras to research, stalk, and pull over a woman he met on the set of a TV show. "I mean, I saw a shiny thing, teasing and all that," the cop said in the footage. "I knew that when I put that [into the system], I was like ‘Fuck.’ 404 Media obtained more than an hour of body camera footage that shows the investigation into Florida cop Lamar Roman , who met a woman on the set of the Apple TV show Bad Monkey, then illegally researched her using government department of motor vehicles databases, put her license plate on a police “hot list” that would notify him when she drove past an automated license plate reader camera, nearly caused a head-on collision while speeding to track her down, and illegally pulled her over after stalking her. We previously published footage from Roman’s police cruiser ; the new footage shows police station interviews with Roman about why he did what he did, an anonymized police station interview with the victim about his actions, and the eventual arrest of Roman in front of his home. The detective investigating Roman told the man “you’ll get past this bro” during his arrest, and later told the victim that he was "remorseful" and urged her not to post about the incident on social media, according to body camera footage obtained by 404 Media. The footage also shows that the investigator told the victim that “we’ve had deputies misuse databases, we’ve told them over and over again ‘that’s not what it’s for. You see a hot chick, you don’t look them up in a database. That’s not what it’s for.’” The footage gives unprecedented insight into how and why abusive police use government spy tools including license plate reader cameras to surveil and stalk victims, how victims are informed of this surveillance, and how cops are treated when they are ultimately arrested for this crime. The footage is particularly notable as dozens of cops around the country have been caught abusing Flock and other ALPR systems to stalk ex wives, ex partners, and random people. When 404 Media wrote about this issue in early July, Flock claimed it was “aware of 15 incidents of abuse,” though we, local media, and a report by the Institute for Justice had found far more than that. The Washington Post then found “at least 50” incidents and, now, Flock’s CEO Garrett Langley is saying that its system has “caught a lot of bad cops. It’s a ton. It’s more than I ever would have hoped.” (Roman used an ALPR system called Guardian made by a company called Turing.) 'You see a hot chick, you don’t look them up in a database. That’s not what it’s for' The most striking footage comes from an interview with the victim by detective Jenna Moeller, who investigated, questioned, and arrested Roman. Moeller is the one who informed the victim of the extent of the stalking. 404 Media is not naming the victim and changed her voice in the videos we've uploaded to protect her identity. Moeller begins by telling the victim "I'm going to tell you some information. It may be upsetting." Moeller tells the victim how, exactly, Roman found her, and said that this is not the first time she has investigated a case involving the police misuse of a database. “He met you on the Bad Monkey set, he was flirting with you. He did use our databases to look you up. He looked you up multiple times to see who you were, where you live. Accessed your information, unfortunately. We have a system called DAVID, Department of Motor Vehicles,” Moeller says. “So it’s your driver’s license information, he looked at your signature, the vehicles you have, and your photo. I can tell he looked at vehicles and photos of each one to see if it was you. He then used a different system we have to run your name, your license plate number. Your address, date of birth. He accessed that the day of the filming.” “The most concerning part to me, listen, we’ve had deputies misuse databases, we’ve told them over and over again, ‘That’s not what it’s for. You see a hot chick, you don’t look them up in a database. That’s not what it’s for,’” she says. “The more concerning part to me is we have what’s called license plate readers, LPR system, which is the camera’s positioned up and down the highway, and we use that for law enforcement. We have one highway, so if we’re looking for somebody, it makes it very easy to locate their vehicle. He put your tag in that, so he would be alerted when your vehicle was going one way or another.” “Stop it,” the victim says, incredulously. “So that, obviously, is very concerning to me. In my interview, he stated that’s how he knew your vehicle was moving that day. And he knew you were going to be headed south,” Moeller says. “He was looking for your vehicle to pull you over. Our in-car cameras do click on when you go over 70 [mph]. To catch up to your vehicle, he passed multiple cars to get behind you and initiate that stop.” “It’s probably a lot to take in. But I will say he was very remorseful, he acknowledged it was dumb, acknowledged it was not the right thing to do,” she adds. During the interview, the victim described her experience with Roman. She repeatedly told Moeller she felt uncomfortable throughout every interaction she had with him and that his advances were unwanted on set (a longer description of what happened and what Roman did is available in our earlier story). “All the sudden, I’m driving, there’s steady traffic. And he cuts off a truck behind me, and immediately I’m like ‘This is him. I know it’s him.’ I could see him in my rear view mirror, and I’m like ‘He better not pull me over,’ and he pulled me over,” the victim tells Moeller in the footage. “He came up to my passenger window, and I had my window rolled down and I’m like ‘I knew it was you, does all my information pop up on your screen?’ And he was like ‘I told you I would find you and pull you over,” she says. “And I was hoping your boyfriend was with you so I could pull him out and give him a hard time.’” “And he was like ‘Why aren’t you following me on Instagram?’ and I was like ‘I’m late,’” she said. “He kept looking around my car and I was like ‘Can I please go?,’ and then he finally let me go […]I had this moment where I had my phone in my hand, and I could have started recording, or I could have popped off, but then it’s like, it’s my word against a police officer. And I just felt like I wasn’t in power in that situation.” Moeller and the victim then discuss what it would mean to press charges, the fact that Roman’s body camera was not on when he pulled her over, and what it might be like to testify at a trial. Moeller tells her that he had been fired and that he lost access to police databases; the victim wonders if that might make him upset or if she’d be blamed. At the end of the interview, Moeller asks the victim not to post about the incident on social media until her investigation is over. “It’s unsettling to all of us. I am glad that our agency found out about it relatively quickly, took action. Those are in my opinion, all positives. This is not something that’s getting swept under the rug,” Moeller says. “Other than that, I know you have a big social media following. I can’t tell you what to post or not post, but if you could refrain from posting anything until my investigation is over, I would appreciate it. Just so it doesn’t hinder anything else. I don’t think it would, but it just makes my life a little easier.” The two agree it would be a good “story time” on social media but the victim says she won’t post anything. 'I Saw a Shiny Thing' In Moeller’s police station interview with Roman, he admits to “hitting on” and “flirting” with the victim on the Bad Monkey set—“she was kind of teasing,” he said. (The victim told Moeller that she was deeply uncomfortable the whole time, and that he was harassing her.) Roman says after he met her he looked her up in DAVID and MNI, ano