Downey police chief exiting after less than two years

Leslie Murray was sworn-in as Downey police chief in 2022. She plans to retire at the end of this year. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)

DOWNEY – Leslie Murray, the first woman to lead the Downey Police Department as police chief, will retire at the end of this year.

Murray announced her retirement in a message to police staff last week. She confirmed the news to the Downey Patriot on Tuesday.

A Downey native, Murray became police chief in January 2022, leading a department that has seen a significant number of retirements in recent years.

“We have a really young department… a lot of our officers have been hired in the last five years, a good number of them,” Murray said in 2022. “For me, it’s continuing to develop those people so that every step of the way we have people in place to take over those next positions. Succession planning is really important, and especially important for our department right now having such a young staff.

“When you lose people, you lose institutional knowledge, and it’s important to develop people.”

It’s unclear why Murray is retiring or who will replace her. The department – which traditionally promotes from within – has three captains on its staff: Brian Baker, who oversees the administrative division; Scott Loughner, in charge of the investigative division, and Michael Parino, who leads field operations.