Meet Carl
A life long member of the Republican Party and proud supporter of conservative values and principles.
Hello fellow Rowan County Citizen,
I am Carl Dangerfield and I am running for Sheriff of Rowan County in 2026. The primary election for this campaign is in March 2026, so we are building momentum and generating support from our fellow residents.
If I may take a moment to provide you with a bit of my background. I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice. I retired from the Rowan County Sheriffs Office in April 2018. I firmly believe that I have the Leadership, Experience, and offer Accountability to the department.
I began my law enforcement career in the United States Air Force as a Law Enforcement Specialist. Upon honorably separating from the Air Force I worked for the Thomasville, NC Police Department for a brief time before joining the Salisbury Police Department. I went to work for the Rowan County Sheriffs Office in 2004 and was promoted to Criminal Investigations in 2007. I was tasked with various positions of leadership and supervision throughout my career. I have supervised patrol and investigations and was a major crimes investigator and was a part of every homicide investigation, mostly as the lead investigator and as support. I am extremely proud of the fact that our team successfully arrested and prosecuted every homicide case I was assigned. In other cases, I routinely cleared by arrest at least 200 cases per year.
I have been a SRT (SWAT) team member, Hostage/Crisis Negotiator, Field Training Officer and as mentioned earlier supervisor of varied divisions. I have been an instructor in the Basic Law Enforcement Training Program for 18 years and have instructed/mentored several hundred officers during that time.
Since retiring I went into private practice and started a Private Investigations firm. That firm has employed 14 investigators since our inception. The opportunity to run that small business, has given me a business sense, accountability of resources, and budgeting considerations that will further help me guide the Sheriff’s Office.
I am married and biological father of (3) children and adopted and step father to a total of 10 children and now numerous grandchildren. I coached and/or provided security for the Rowan County Youth Football League for 10 years.
I have always been committed to this County and want to continue to give back through the service of being your elected Sheriff.
I want to earn your vote, I want to earn your loyalty, and the respect of our Sheriffs Office. I do not take this position lightly as it is the one agency that interacts with our citizens 24 hours per day and 7 days per week. I am very aware that a well-trained, fully staffed work force is vital to ensuring the safety and security of every resident and visitor of our county. I vow to collaborate with the schools, all emergency services, churches, and community organizations to make sure our Sheriffs Office is both accountable to our citizens, available to our citizens, and always focused on providing safety, security, and transparency.
I am available to meet with you personally, your organization collectively to address concerns you have, discuss our future, and secure our county.