Deputy Chief Downing attended the University of Southern California where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration in 1982, completed POST Command College in 1997 and the FBI Leadership in Counter-Terrorism (LinCT's) in 2007. He was appointed to the LAPD in 1982. He progressed through the ranks and was promoted to Deputy Chief in April of 2007. Chief Downing is the Commanding Officer, Counter Terrorism Criminal Intelligence Bureau, where he oversees Major Crime Division and Emergency Services Division. He completed a two-month secondment to the New Scotland Yard's Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command SO-15 and has testified before Congress relative to radicalization, intelligence, homeland security and information sharing.