James Alton "Al" Cannon Jr. (born October 9, 1946) is an American law enforcement officer, attorney and politician.

[3] Cannon was raised in North Charleston,[4] where he attended Chicora High School and played on the varsity basketball team.

[5] After graduation in 1964, Cannon entered a pre-law program at the University of South Carolina,[6] where he studied until dropping out to join the U.S. Air Force in 1967.

[8] Active-duty deployments came for months at a time during his tenure as sheriff in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1999, when he served for 60 days as deputy commander of the U.S. military's joint counterintelligence office in support of American air war efforts in Kosovo.

[6] In 1977, while on the police force, he earned a master's degree in criminal justice, then resigned from the department to attend law school.

Nettles had argued that he would be a sheriff who would get along with city police chiefs, citing Cannon's disagreements with Charleston Police Chief Reuben Greenberg, who at times had objected to Cannon's deputies enforcing state laws within Charleston city limits, where the agencies technically share jurisdiction.

In 1937, the South Carolina General Assembly had put control of the police force into the hands of the Charleston County Council instead of the sheriff.

When County Police Chief William Sidoran resigned in March 1990, Cannon campaigned for the move until voters in November 1990 approved it by a slim margin.

Town leaders had no plans to start their own police department and instead called on the Charleston County Sheriff's Office to provide law enforcement.

[25] Funded by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Charleston County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council formed in 2015 and included more than a dozen agencies.

[29] Cannon has remained active in counterintelligence and cyber security efforts locally and nationally, frequently being named to advisory boards and as a speaker at events.

As Republican leaders in South Carolina argued against admitting Syrian refugees from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in 2015, Cannon said immigration also posed a challenge because of the difficulty of vetting people seeking to enter the country.

[33] Cannon has opposed proposals for increased gun control measures in the wake of mass shootings, including the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

[35] In January 2013, after President Barack Obama proposed measures including universal background checks and bans on high-capacity ammunition magazines following a mass shooting at Sandy Hook, Cannon announced to local press that he would refuse any new restrictions on firearms that he deemed to violate the Second Amendment.

[41] On January 30, 2012, Cannon attempted to conduct a traffic stop on Timothy Shawn McManus' pickup truck after it nearly struck his SUV on Mount Pleasant's Hungryneck Boulevard.

On a dirt road in the Francis Marion National Forest, Cannon fired nine shots from a .45-caliber pistol at the tires of McManus' truck.

[42] Dashboard camera footage showed McManus being pulled from his truck, punched at least six times, and detained by four officers.

[45] McManus filed a lawsuit stating that Cannon had "busted him in the nose" and that he needed “17 staples to his upper right arm where the dog chewed at and ripped apart his flesh” and sought $600,000 in damages.

[43] The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division arrested Cannon on August 28, 2012, on a misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault and battery.

[46] He was later cleared of civil rights violations, and the misdemeanor charge was dismissed after Cannon completed a pre-trial intervention program.

[43] In February 2020, Cannon placed longtime Charleston County Sheriff's Deputy Kristin Graziano on unpaid leave after finding out she intended to challenge him in the November 2020 election as a Democrat.

[48][49] Graziano said Cannon ordered her to surrender her badge after 18 years at the sheriff's office, leaving her to live off of accrued vacation pay until it ran out.

[48][49] Charleston County Republican Party Chairman Maurice Washington criticized the firing as a "wrong-headed decision" that "discourages individuals who have every right to seek public office without fear of retribution.

[6] Al Cannon III has served as a K-9 deputy at the Greenville County Sheriff's Office in Upstate South Carolina.