ABSTRACT
Taken-for-granted assumptions and the wider context of police body-worn cameras (BWCs) are discussed. In attending to these we see significant variation in settings and outcomes. Exploring the correlates of these is essential to wise laws, policies, and procedures. It is a reminder, with philosopher Alfred N. Whitehead, that every way of seeing is also a way of not seeing and, with social observer Georg Simmel, that separating the seemingly connected and connecting the seemingly separated can advance understanding and improve practice. Among topics covered are the relevance of the work of Jeremy Bentham, police body-worn cameras as the paradigmatic new surveillance, roles played, means used before the cameras, uses in other contexts and settings, types of cameras, laws and policies, and broader implications for the kind of society we are, or might become.
