[3] Pitchess started his career as a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), spending 12 years with that agency,[1][2] in Washington, D.C.; El Paso, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; and Los Angeles.

[2] 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.

[1] 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.

[2] Upon Pitchess' retirement, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors designated him as "sheriff emeritus for the rest of his life.

"[1] 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.