Dale Carson

Carson was born in Amsterdam, Ohio, the eldest of three children of Dale and Lillian Carson. His father was a dentist who died when Carson was 13.{{cite news |title=Dr. Dale Christopher Carson obituary |agency=Carroll Journal |publisher=Carroll News |date=August 8, 1935}} Following high school, Carson joined the United States Army during World War II.{{cn|date=January 2025}} He was awarded several medals for his service. Upon his return, he was employed as a Columbus, Ohio police officer while attending classes at Ohio State University for a bachelor's degree in 1949 where he majored in criminology.

After college, he worked for two years with the B&O Railroad in Cincinnati, Ohio as a detective{{cite web |title=US Census 1950 |url=https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/62308/images/43290879-Ohio-055885-0032?treeid=6633231&personid=112655935551&hintid=1035763241962&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&showinfopanel=true&pId=209373703 |website=ancestry.com |publisher=US Census Bureau |access-date=24 January 2025}} before the FBI hired him in 1951, which later sent him to a field assignment in the south.{{cn|date=January 2025}} Carson was a young, clean-cut FBI agent at the Jacksonville FBI office.{{cite news |last1=Kerr |first1=Jessie-Lynne |title=Dale G. Carson obituary |agency=Florida Times-Union |publisher=Gannett |date=May 28, 2000}}

In 1958, Florida Governor LeRoy Collins suspended William Alpheus "Al" Cahill after a grand jury investigated the Duval Sheriff for gambling, bribery, illegal liquor sales and gross incompetence. Collins then appointed Carson as a replacement.{{cite news |title=Sheriff in Duval Predicts Early Return To Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/133616274/?article=ac10e6c2-3f3b-4770-842e-ff0f8fe7da05&xid=4639%20&terms=Dale_G._Carson&_gl=1*6ygopg*_gcl_dc*R0NMLjE3Mzc2MDg0MTUuQ09PXzRkNkhpNHNERlZzSmlBa2QwcGtRRFE.*_gcl_au*MTM2NTAzNzM3OC4xNzM2MTI0ODU3*_ga*MTg3MjEyMDMzNi4xNzM2MTI0ODYz*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*OGQ2ODE3ODYtYzNkMC00ZTBmLTk2ZWUtOTY4YTBiN2EwMjFmLjIwLjEuMTczNzgyNjMwMy40NC4wLjA.*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*OGQ2ODE3ODYtYzNkMC00ZTBmLTk2ZWUtOTY4YTBiN2EwMjFmLjE5LjEuMTczNzgyNjMwMy4wLjAuMA.. |access-date=25 January 2025 |publisher=Palm Beach Post |date=February 3, 1958}} At the time, the Duval County Sheriff's department co-existed with the Jacksonville Police department.

The sheriff's office and FBI jointly investigated alleged municipal corruption in the early 1960s. Carson supported the merger of Jacksonville city and county government agencies and took a leading role in the process. The Jacksonville Chief of Police D.K. Brown became the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Undersheriff.

Ed Austin, former Jacksonville mayor and state attorney commented:

"Dale took those two agencies and created a masterpiece, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. He was exactly the right man for the job. He did not tolerate any type of misconduct or corruption. If he found any, he cleaned it out in a hurry. He was tough but fair, and he was the most totally honest person I've known. He had to make some tough and unpopular decisions, but somehow the public always knew he was acting professionally and with unquestioned integrity. He was a good friend, and I am going to miss him."

The voters trusted Sheriff Carson and re-elected him seven times.

Carson was a pioneer in setting minimum standards and improving training for police officers which made him known in law enforcement circles across the nation. In 1976, Carson attended the FBI National Academy to enhance his credentials.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

When Clarence M. Kelley retired as Director of the FBI in 1978. Carson was one of three people considered by President Jimmy Carter as a replacement.{{cite web |title=The History of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office |url=https://www.jaxsheriff.org/Sheriffs-Office/History.aspx |website=Jaxsheriff.org |publisher=Jacksonville Sheriff Office |access-date=23 January 2025}}

Carson retired in 1986 and Governor Bob Graham appointed Jim McMillan as his replacement.

Jacksonville experienced widespread racial strife during the 1960s.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3308320/alton_evening_telegraph/ |title=Jacksonville Torn With Racial Strife |date=March 24, 1964 |work=Alton Evening Telegraph |access-date=27 September 2015 |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Ax Handle Saturday was a racially motivated attack on August 27, 1960 in downtown Jacksonville. A group of about 200 white men with baseball bats and ax handles assaulted a group of mostly black young people participating in sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. Many of the attackers were alleged to have Ku Klux Klan affiliations. The city police refused to intercede, Mayor Haydon Burns claimed there was no violence, and both local newspapers buried the story. An FBI informant had learned of the KKK plans and gave a report to his handler who placed it on County Sheriff Carson's desk. However, it was intercepted by someone, and Carson never got the warning.{{cite web |last1=Hull |first1=Shelton |title=Ax Handle Saturday: Sixty Years Later |url=https://folioweekly.com/2020/08/21/ax-handle-saturday-sixty-years-later/ |website=folioweekly.com |date=21 August 2020 |publisher=Boldland Press |access-date=25 January 2025}}

The Murder of Johnnie Mae Chappell was a drive-by shooting of a black woman by four white men in 1964. The case of Chappell's death went unsolved for months until two sheriff detectives, Lee Cody and Donald Coleman Sr., interrogated a young local called Wayne Chessman about the murder. Chessman confessed to being in the car with three other men, giving their names and details of the evening. Chessman stated that a man named J.W. Rich was the one to fire the gun; he and the other passengers were subsequently arrested by Cody and Coleman who say they then confessed to shooting Chappell.{{Cite news |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8670054/ns/dateline_nbc/t/seeking-justice-racial-killing-years-later/#.VghZAstVhHw |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821022528/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8670054/ns/dateline_nbc/t/seeking-justice-racial-killing-years-later/#.VghZAstVhHw |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 August 2013 |title=Seeking justice for a racial killing, 40 years later |last=Murphy |first=Dennis |date=September 7, 2005 |work=NBC News |access-date=28 September 2015}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3322695/the_daily_telegram/ |title=Trio Charged in Jacksonville Racial Killing |date=August 11, 1964 |work=The Daily Telegram |access-date=30 September 2015 |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com}} When they went to read the paperwork regarding Chappell's death, however, they found that it was missing. They later found under the mat in the office of their boss, detective chief James Patrick Sr., along with about 30 other reports involving cases which Patrick Sr. wanted dropped.{{Cite web |date=2022-01-13 |title=Jacksonville Beach: J.C. Patrick's Hard Ironic Fall |url=https://jaxpsychogeo.com/east/jacksonville-beach-j-c-patricks-hard-ironic-fall/ |access-date=10 August 2023 |website=jaxpsychogeo.com |language=en-US}}

The four men went to trial, but the gun used in the shooting went missing and the detectives were not asked to testify about the confessions. As a result, the jury convicted Rich, who claimed that he didn't intend to kill Chappell, of manslaughter and the charges were dropped against the other men. Rich served three years of a 10-year sentence, and Cody and Coleman were demoted and later fired after complaining about racism and corruption in the department.{{Cite web |last=Hastings |first=Deborah |date=2003-12-07 |title=Justice Elusive 40 Years After Slaying |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-dec-07-adna-legacy7-story.html |access-date=10 August 2023 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} Cody said, "Here is a Black woman gunned down in cold blood on a dark, lonely highway, and none of them cared. We lived in a racist city and a racist town run by racist people."{{cite web |last1=Luter |first1=Carianne |title=Historical Impact Celebration honors detective in high-profile racial killing |url=https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/12/09/historical-impact-celebration-honors-detective-in-high-profile-racial-killing/ |website=News4Jax.com |date=9 December 2020 |publisher=Graham Media Group |access-date=24 January 2025}}

Detectives Cody and Coleman were later reinstated and received back pay by the Civil Service Board.{{cite web |last1=Marbut |first1=Max |title=50 years ago: Suspended detectives returned to work by Civil Service Board |url=https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2015/oct/05/50-years-ago-suspended-detectives-returned-work-civil-service-board/ |website=JaxDailyRecord.com |date=5 October 2015 |publisher=Observer Media Group Inc |access-date=25 January 2025}} Cody authored a book, The 14th Denial that detailed those events and the involvement of Sheriff Carson.

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• American Society of Criminology
• Florida Sheriffs Association, president 1970–1971
• National Sheriffs' Association, director
• National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, Vice chairman 1971
• Shriners & Civitan clubs
• Marquis Who's Who, noteworthy sheriff

Carson helped start Jacksonville's Police Athletic League and supported the Riverside Tradition House, his church's ministry for recovering alcoholics. Carson attended Riverside Presbyterian Church where he was a Sunday school teacher and church elder for 30 years.

Carson's wife Doris was a physician and Baptist Medical Center Chief of staff who died in 2008. The couple had three children, Dale Jr, Chris and Cyndi plus eight grandchildren. In their retirement, the couple played golf at the Timuquana Country Club most Sunday afternoons and enjoyed a summer home in the mountains of North Carolina where they would camp and hike and camp on the Appalachian Trail. He also liked to hunt, go boating and take photographs.

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Category:1922 births

Category:Florida Democrats

Category:Florida sheriffs

Category:Ohio State University alumni

Category:Politicians from Jacksonville, Florida

Category:2000 deaths