Police Impersonator Confession: Meet John Dawson

On June 19, 2017 John William Dawson was driving what was then his 2012 Chevy Impala westbound on SR 54 in Lutz, Florida. The Impala bore an FOP license plate, tag number 955FA. A man was in front of Dawson's Impala, driving his own vehicle, when Dawson decided he didn't like the guy's driving. Dawson activated his red and white emergency lights and began flashing his bluish-color headlights at the victim. Upon making contact with the victim, Dawson exited his vehicle, placing around his neck a law enforcement badge necklace. Dawson ordered the victim to slow down and threatened him with (a) jail, and - bizarrely - (b) running his license plate "again." He advised the victim that he would arrest him if he ever followed him [Dawson] again, and then ordered the victim to leave immediately. The victim easily identified Dawson from a photo lineup. The incident was captured on cell phone video, which was aired on Fox News... where Dawson's wife saw it. He turned himself in later that day. This video presents the original footage, and - for the first time - Dawson's complete post-Miranda confession. At the end of the confession tape, select court records are shown on screen. Dawson's Impala was Impounded. That's some decent alliteration. /// In other news, something is seriously wrong vis-à-vis YouTube's recommendation engine and our newer content. Fortunately, YouTube has acknowledged the issue. They assured us that it has been escalated, and said that we should expect to hear from someone within 24 hours. Unfortunately, they said that on Sunday. And they haven't said a thing since. On Sunday morning we published the most recent Jeremy Dewitte video. The one you might not have seen. Because it's not being suggested... to anyone, or even showing up in subscribers' home feeds. The video doesn't suck, and people — beyond Jeremy — are not 'over' the story. The video is advertiser-friendly and it has a clickthrough rate of nearly 13% with an average viewer retention of 13 minutes. The ingredients are there for a hit. Except one: YouTube. The video is not being suggested to prospective viewers. Let's put some number on that, because I really want you to understand the magnitude of the effect: YouTube suggestions and browse features are typically the source of 80% - 90% of all views on this channel. For the Dewitte video, they account for almost-zero. Bizarrely, more than 60% of the views on that video are from people going directly to our channel page. Closer examination reveals that the issue is not limited to Sunday's Dewitte video. This has been happening — to obvious-but-varying degrees — for at least two to three weeks. For a few reasons, it wasn't blatantly obvious until Sunday. To put it mildly, this is not cool. You rely on YouTube's recommendation engine to discover our new content, and we rely on having an audience to keep the lights on. Stay tuned for information on how we are going to handle this. A plan is in the works. ~~~~ Edit: Notifications are still working. Meaning, if you are subscribed to Real World Police, have the bell 'rung,' and have notifications enabled for YouTube on your phone, you were notified about the Dewitte video. But even if you are in that group, if you go to your "Home" feed on mobile, you will likely find that a lot of our recent content is not there. Including the Dewitte video. ~~~ Real World Police proudly supports the Florida First Amendment Foundation, protecting and advancing the public’s constitutional right to open government. Check out the recent public Patreon posts about access to public records, at http://tiny.cc/records3 http://tiny.cc/records2 and http://tiny.cc/records1. ~~~ Do you have independently verifiable inside information on a story we are or should be covering? Email [email protected]. Your identity will not be revealed without your consent. Because we receive dozens of tips daily we cannot respond individually to every submission. Remember: we don't publish footage that has already been published elsewhere. The tip line is not for requests. Please don’t send links to news articles. ~~~ Want to help make Real World Police happen and get rewarded for it? Become a supporter on Patreon today! Get access to: -Dozens of exclusive full-length videos -The Roadcam series -Supporting documentation, such as case files, reports, court records, and other investigatory material -Material from cases not shown on the main channel, like the arrest of Chris Hansen and the detention of T-Pain by the TSA -Early access to some videos -And more!   / realworldpolice   Rather not? That works too. There are more than 500 free videos to enjoy!