Stephen Downing

Stephen Downing (October 28, 1938 – November 20, 2025) was an American screenwriter, producer, activist and investigative journalist who began his screenwriting career in the 1960s while still working as a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer. Most of Downing's pre-1980 writing and producing credits appeared under pseudonyms to escape notice of the LAPD. Downing was active in the movement to end the international war on drugs and the militarization of police in America. In 2011, Downing became a board member of Law Enforcement Action Partnership, formerly known as Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), after years representing the group as a speaker. He left the board in 2019, but was still an advisory board member who gave speeches and wrote op-ed pieces on behalf of the group. He also volunteered his time as an investigative journalist, with a focus on police corruption and reform, for a local print newspaper in Long Beach, California. As a television producer and screenwriter he is best known for the series Walking Tall, RoboCop: The Series, T. J. Hooker and MacGyver.

Law enforcement career

Downing retired from the LAPD in 1980 after more than 20 years of service, during which he saw firsthand the destructive nature of the war on drugs. Downing left his mark on the LAPD with many of his assignments. As Captain of Detectives, he established homicide investigation techniques still in use today. As Commanding Officer of Juvenile Division, he established and published a file that brought an end to abuses in state probation subsidy programs. As Commanding Officer of Southwest Area, he designed and implemented the first functionally integrated police operation in law enforcement aimed at combating gang activity, a program that became a national model. As a Commanding Officer of the Personnel and Training Bureau, he chaired the Shooting Review Board and provided the leadership to adopt the first use of force policy in the nation that had as its preamble a reverence for human life and its taking to be at last resort. Downing's son also served as an LAPD Deputy Chief.

Since retirement, he has been an outspoken advocate to end both the militarization of police and the war on drugs.

Activism against War on Drugs

Downing became opposed to the war on drugs after the death of a fellow officer in an undercover drug sting in 1973. Downing believes the drug war is a distraction from law enforcement's true purpose, and has made police departments dependent on drug investigations as a source of funding obtained through civil assets forfeiture. Downing has written opinion pieces advocating for the end of the drug war in publications such as the Huffington Post, New York magazine, and the Los Angeles Times.

Hollywood career Downing's Hollywood credits include writing or producing credits on over 500 hours of television dating back to the 1965. His first Hollywood job was as a technical advisor on Adam-12, advising Jack Webb who would later buy Downing's first script for the TV show Dragnet. While an LAPD officer he used three screen names to stay off the department's radar. He used the pseudonyms Michael Donovan, Sean Baine, and Adrian Leeds for his screenwriting credits. As Michael Donovan, Downing wrote for ten shows, including episodes of Dragnet, Adam-12, Emergency!, and Police Story. As Sean Baine, he wrote for 16 shows, including Kojak, Quincy, M.E., Get Christie Love!, and The Streets of San Francisco. As Adrian Leeds, he wrote for five shows, including Baretta and Police Woman. Downing would write on weekends and his wife, Adrienne Allen, would deliver his scripts to producers. Downing was the supervising producer/"show-doctor"responsible for MacGyver's refusal to use a gun, a character trait he pushed for after he was brought in after the pilot episode (in which MacGyver used a gun). Downing became an advocate for curbing access to guns, especially handguns, after seeing the effects of gun violence firsthand as a police officer. He was a witness to the LAPD's role in perpetuation of that violence by auctioning off seized guns—only for those guns to subsequently be used in a crime.

Investigative journalism efforts Downing lived in Long Beach, California, where he frequently published articles investigating the Long Beach Police Department. Downing did not take payment for his investigative journalism work, seeing it as a community service. This work has received praise from the community, but also criticism from the LBPD and its supporters (including a death threat from a former LBPD officer).

In 2018, after developing a whistleblower source within the LBPD, Downing worked with the ACLU and Al Jazeera to uncover the LBPD's secret use of disappearing messaging app TigerText. Al Jazeera and Downing's publisher, the Long Beach Beachcomber, would publish simultaneous articles on the scandal on September 18, 2018—resulting in LBPD Chief of Police Robert Luna issuing an order that very day ending his department's use of the disappearing message app his department had been using for the last four years.

Death Downing died in Long Beach on November 20, 2025, at the age of 87, from sepsis.