Irwin Carmichael

Biography of Mecklenburg County's 44th Sheriff Irwin Carmichael

Irwin Carmichael was born in rural Long Creek, a few miles north of Charlotte, North Carolina.
He started karate lessons at an early age, and through hard work, practice, and training, earned his first Black Belt at the age of fourteen. Since then, he has achieved a master level, ninth degree Black Belt in Kempo Karate. He has put his knowledge, love, and expertise for karate into a business and oversees several karate schools.
In 1986, Irwin joined the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office and was elected Sheriff on November 4, 2014. Through his work, he has had the opportunity to interview hardened criminals and analyze the minds behind crimes. He has gathered information for his crime prevention programs through high profile transports of prisoners such as Henry Louis Wallace, Van Brett Watkins, and Rae Carrouth. He saw a way to merge his skill in the martial arts with his knowledge of crime to develop a personal safety and awareness program, Women’s Awareness Response. As a courtesy of the Sheriff’s Office, he presented this program to organizations, businesses, and groups throughout the county and state.
In an attempt to further educate the public on crime prevention and self defense, Sheriff Carmichael has written a book, Women’s Awareness Response, and has produced a child safety and abduction video, Kid’s Awareness Response. In addition, he uses his martial arts proficiency to teach defensive tactics and ground fighting at the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office Training Academy, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Academy, and other law enforcement agencies, including the North Carolina Justice Academy and the North Carolina Highway Patrol Training Center. The class that took him the farthest from home was the one he taught the Australian Federal Police.
Sheriff Carmichael’s knowledge of karate has made it possible to impact almost every segment of our society as he teaches kid’s karate classes, women’s self defense classes, ground fighting seminars, concealed carry and active shooter classes.
He is also a retired Engineer/Firefighter for the city of Charlotte. He has fulfilled every little boy’s dream of becoming a policeman, fireman, and karate master.