Sheriff Willie L. Rowe is a 30-year veteran of the Wake County Sheriff’s Office. He started his tenure as a deputy in 1985 after serving our country in the United States Army as a sergeant. He may have retired from the Sheriff’s Office in 2013 as a Major, but he did not stop serving Wake County.

Sheriff Rowe continues to serve in other leadership capacities in the state and county. He serves on the North Carolina Emergency Response Commission, the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association Legislative and Audit Committees, and as a board member of the Wake County ABC Board; the Raleigh Inter-Church Housing Corporation; and the Fellowship Home, Foundation Board. 

He serves as a member of local community organizations volunteering, providing financial support for nonprofit organizations, and continuous engagement to address affordable housing, ending hunger and homelessness, support of second chance initiatives and mentoring programs for at risk youth.

During his time at the Sheriff’s Office, he contributed to various divisions, starting as a Deputy Sheriff in the Patrol Division, and then becoming an Investigator for the Criminal Investigative Division in 1987. In 1988, he took his investigative skills to the Drugs and Vice Unit, where he served until 2003, moving up the ranks from Investigator to Captain. Sheriff Rowe was also a Captain in Patrol and the Special Operations Unit. He was promoted to Major in 2007, serving first in the Criminal Investigations Division, then Patrol Division, and retired as Major over the Special Operations Division in 2013.

Sheriff Rowe is a graduate of North Carolina State University’s Administrative Officer’s Management Program, Raleigh Police Department Leadership Institute, National Sheriffs’ Institute Leadership Course, North Carolina Sheriffs’ Leadership Institute and successfully completed numerous investigative and management courses, extensive patrolling and criminal investigation duties and assignments and served at senior level staff positions assisting in developing and implementing budgets, policies, and procedures; supervising and managing staff, resources, and daily operations.

Sheriff Rowe was the recipient of the North Carolina Special Olympics 2024 Sheriff of the Year Award, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) North Carolina 2025 Law Enforcement Executive of the Year, Wake County Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) 2023 Leadership Award and the La Grande 2024 Grande Supporter in recognition his dedication and unwavering support of the Latino community.  

As Sheriff, he is committed to providing effective and efficient public safety because everyone deserves equal protection, equal opportunity, and equal access to a greater overall quality of life.
He is dedicated to building trusted relationships and working with all stakeholders to create opportunities for safer communities and successful outcomes.

The joy of his life is his wife of 40 years, and the children and grandchildren God has blessed them with. When he is not at the Sheriff’s Office or at a local event, he is serving the Lord as a Deacon at First Baptist Church in Raleigh.

As a Raleigh-born North Carolina native, Sheriff Rowe is committed to making Wake County the safest place to live, work, play, visit, and learn.