{{Short description|American politician (1912–1999)}} {{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox police officer |name = Peter J. Pitchess |image = Peter J. Pitchess, 1965.jpg |caption = Pitchess in 1965 |birth_date = {{Birth date|1912|2|26}} |death_date = {{Death date and age|1999|4|4|1912|2|26}} |badge_number = |birth_place = Salt Lake City, Utah |death_place = Newport Beach, California |nickname = |department = Federal Bureau of Investigation<br>Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department |service = |service_years = 1953{{spaced ndash}}1982 |rank = 1953: Appointed as Under-Sheriff;<br>1958: elected Sheriff |awards = |relatives = |other_work = |resting_place = Pacific View Memorial Park,<br>Corona del Mar, California |resting_place_coordinates = {{Coord|33.610068|-117.853822|type:landmark|display=inline}} }} '''Peter J. Pitchess''' (February 26, 1912 – April 4, 1999) was the 28th sheriff of Los Angeles County, California, serving from 1958 to 1981. He is credited with modernizing the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department,<ref name=LATimesObit/> turning the department into the sixth-largest police department, and the largest sheriff's department, in the United States.<ref name=DailyNewsObit/>
==Early life and career== Pitchess was born in Salt Lake City, Utah.<ref name=LATimesObit/> He was orphaned as a child, and attended Bingham High School<ref name=DeseretNews/> in Bingham, Utah. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Utah,<ref name=DeseretNews/><ref name=BadgeHistory/> and his Juris Doctor degree from the university's law school,<ref name=DailyNewsObit/><ref name=BadgeHistory/> earning his law school tuition by working in the mines in Bingham, Utah.<ref name=DeseretNews/>
Pitchess started his career as a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), spending 12 years with that agency,<ref name=LATimesObit/><ref name=DailyNewsObit/> in Washington, D.C.; El Paso, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; and Los Angeles.<ref name=DeseretNews/> He rose to head the criminal investigative section of the Bureau's Los Angeles field office, resigning in 1952.<ref name=DailyNewsObit/> Pitchess spent a year in the private sector, taking a position as chief of security for the Richfield Oil Company, before becoming under-sheriff, reporting to sheriff Eugene Biscailuz.<ref name=LATimesObit/> He was elected Sheriff in 1958 upon Biscailuz's retirement.<ref name=LATimesObit/>
During Pitchess' 23 years as sheriff, he eliminated the county's informal posse comitatus, introduced the use of helicopters for car chases and crowd control, and set up the Special Enforcement Bureau ("SEB"), one of the first SWAT teams in the United States.<ref name=LATimesObit/> He linked the geographically separated offices and jails with Teletype machines for faster communication, and computerized the offices records in the 1960s.<ref name=LATimesObit/> Pitchess also put in place a program allowing smaller communities to contract with the sheriff's department as an alternative to establishing their own police departments.<ref name=DailyNewsObit/>
Upon Pitchess' retirement, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors designated him as "sheriff emeritus for the rest of his life."<ref name=LATimesObit/>
In addition to his law enforcement work, Pitchess served on the Los Angeles County Civil Defense and Disaster Commission during the nuclear crisis in the early 1960s.<ref name=LAT3Dec61 /> The position was important because it was at the time of the peak of the cold war nuclear scare.<ref name=LAT3Dec61 />
==Death and legacy== Pitchess died at his home in Newport Beach on April 4, 1999, at the age of 87, from heart failure.<ref name=DailyNewsObit/> He is buried in Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar, California.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rivera |first=Carla |date=April 9, 1999 |title=Pitchess Is Remembered for Both Toughness and Charm|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-09-me-25668-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |location=Los Angeles |access-date=April 8, 2014 }}</ref>
His name is well known as a party in a famous California legal case entitled ''Pitchess v. Superior Court'',<ref>''[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15520905555230302925&hl=en Pitchess v. Superior Court]'', 11 Cal.3d 531 (1974)</ref> which entitles a defendant to obtain records of public complaints, using what is now known as a Pitchess motion, about the use of excessive force by police officers. Pitchess' office had claimed that such records were proprietary, and had refused to provide them following a subpoena duces tecum. His petition was ultimately denied by the California Supreme Court in a 7-0 decision.<ref name=BadgeHistory/>
The Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center in Los Angeles County is named after him.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://shq.lasdnews.net/pages/PageDetail.aspx?id=1329 |title=A History of PDC North Facility |date=September 3, 2013 |website= |publisher=Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department |accessdate=April 8, 2014}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=LATimesObit>{{cite news |last=Oliver |first=Myrna |date=April 5, 1999 |title=Peter Pitchess, Sheriff Who Modernized Agency, Dies |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-05-mn-24341-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=April 7, 2014 }}</ref>
<ref name=DailyNewsObit>{{cite news |last=Gittrich |first=Greg |date=April 5, 1999 |title=Formet Sheriff Pitchess Dies at 87 |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/FORMER+SHERIFF+PITCHESS+DIES+AT+87.-a083607652 |newspaper=Daily News |location=Los Angeles, California |accessdate=April 8, 2014 }}</ref>
<ref name=DeseretNews>{{cite news |last=Beck |first=Don |date=January 2, 1962 |title=Native Utahn Wearing L.A. Sheriff's Badge |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19620102&id=I-EuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cUkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6979,466869 |newspaper=The Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |accessdate=April 8, 2014 }}</ref>
<ref name=BadgeHistory>{{cite web |url=http://www.badgehistory.com/pitchess_bio.html |title=Peter J. Pitchess |website=badgehistory.com |accessdate=April 7, 2014}}</ref>
<ref name=LAT3Dec61>''Los Angeles Times'', December 3, 1961 [https://archive.today/20120713013453/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/481553932.html?FMT=AI&FMTS=::ABS:AI:CITE:PAGE&type=historic&date=Dec+03,+1961&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Businessman+Appointed+to+CD+Group “Businessman Appointed to Civil Defense Group”]</ref> }}
==External links== * {{Find a Grave |6439675 |Peter J. Pitchess |author=William Barritt |date=May 22, 2002 |accessdate=April 8, 2014 }} {{s-start}} {{S-civ|pol}} {{succession box | before=Eugene W. Biscailuz | title=Los Angeles County Sheriff | service_years=1959-1982 | after=Sherman Block }} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitchess, Peter J.}} Category:1912 births Category:1999 deaths Category:Los Angeles County, California, sheriffs Category:20th-century American politicians Category:People from Bingham Canyon, Utah Category:Politicians from Newport Beach, California