Humble. Kind. Unassuming. Delightful. Not the words one might typically associate with an Air Force colonel, chief of police, attorney, sheriff, special agent and Russian translator with a master’s degree in criminal justice. Former Sheriff Al Cannon is all of these things and more – devoted husband to wife Wallis, loving father of two and adoring grandfather of five.
Sheriff Cannon and Wallis met in 1971 and married four months later. Soon thereafter they moved to the Isle of Palms, where they raised their beautiful family.
Growing up with a magistrate mother who would become one of the first female judges in South Carolina, Sheriff Cannon frequently participated in ride-alongs with his local law enforcement as a teenager and fell in love with criminal justice long before becoming a police officer. He served Charleston County for 33 years beginning in 1988. During his tenure, Sheriff Cannon oversaw the merger of the Charleston County Police Department and the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office. He also championed the expansion of the Charleston County Jail, which was named the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in his honor in 2010.
The entire Cannon family works as public servants. Daughter Sara served with the Fayetteville Police Department in North Carolina for five years before moving to Florida and becoming the director of operations for a private security company. Son Al Cannon III is a lieutenant in Greenville with the largest K-9 unit in South Carolina.
Wallis, a retired radiation therapist, recounted one aspect of Sheriff Cannon’s service: “Al was instrumental in starting the chaplaincy program at the Charleston County Sheriff’s Department. This program provides emotional support, grief care and critical incident stress management for law enforcement personnel, inmates and the local community.”
Serving the community around them and the world at large seems paramount to the Cannons and was made especially clear during and following the tragedy of 9/11. Wallis shared, “The chaplain from Charleston County Sheriff’s Office went to New York to help after 9/11. We had family in the service at that time and we understood the need for that support.”
Both Wallis and Sheriff Cannon described 9/11 as not only a horrific tragedy, but also chaotic. Sheriff Cannon explained, “Charleston was better prepared than most cities during 9/11 because of Hurricane Hugo. One of the main things that happens after a major event, be it a natural disaster or an attack, is the inoperability that follows when communication is lost. Charleston solved that problem after Hugo, and we were able to communicate with law enforcement and first responders and the public because of that. We had already solved the communication problem, but we had other issues to consider after 9/11 to gauge the threat to the port city of Charleston. We created a task force with the Coast Guard and developed waterborne policing capability. Law enforcement has come a long way with the help of technology and that has created a ripple effect for the better.”
He continued, “We talk about how a lot of people died that day, but the truth is, people are still dying, even now, because of 9/11. We tend to overlook that aspect of that tragedy. It’s still killing people.”
Thank goodness for the positive impacts and the lasting influence the changes brought about by Sheriff Cannon have provided to our community and our nation, giving us hope for a better tomorrow.
We will never forget.
By Laura Fogarty
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