Preliminary Investigation: A background to an ethnographic investigation of Body Worn Cameras (BWCs)

This document details the extensive 'netnography' (Kozinets) conducted by the researcher, liminal (Deegan & Hill) preliminary findings derivative of a reflexive practice in the form of a research journal and critical discourse analysis (Carla Willig) of interviews and conversations and with key figures who provided detailed accounts of the historical, social and political dimensions of BWCs. This full and unabridged background chapter was originally titled 'Chapter 4.0 - Background' chapter, designed for inclusion following the main '2.0 Literature Review' chapter, '3.0 Research Design' chapter and prefacing '4.0 Observational Study' in the PhD thesis 'The Socioethical Implications of Body Worn Cameras: An Ethnographic Study'. The chapter was composed over a two (2) year period it contains the main structural framework and historical premise upon which the main thesis was formed, principally an investigation of the historical precursors to BWCs. Due to the burgeoning scale of the thesis in late 2019, after much angst, in consultation with Supervisor, Professor Katina Michael this intensive write-up was removed to bring the thesis into the acceptable word count for a PhD thesis published through and Engineering and Information Sciences at the University of Wollongong.