Dale Carson (January 16, 1922 – May 27, 2000) was an American politician and former FBI Special Agent who served as the Duval County sheriff for almost three decades.

[3] After college, he worked for two years with the B&O Railroad in Cincinnati, Ohio as a detective[4] before the FBI hired him in 1951, which later sent him to a field assignment in the south.

[3] 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.

Carson supported the merger of Jacksonville city and county government agencies and took a leading role in the process.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[12] Carson helped start Jacksonville's Police Athletic League and supported the Riverside Tradition House, his church's ministry for recovering alcoholics.