Stop, Question and Frisk is a proactive policing program, in which police officers use personal discretion in detaining individuals based on suspicion of felonious behavior. Recent claims of prejudice raised against the New York City Police Department are rooted in substantive law passed during the Civil Rights Era. Supporters of the policy often claim that it is a social deterrent of crime because it increases societal awareness of law enforcement. However, controversies arose during the Civil Rights Movement under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, based mostly on racial and socio-economic profiling. Renewed claims of prejudicial enforcement sounded again in the late nineties race cases, and again in the early 2000s when the New York City Police Department increased enforcement in low-income neighborhoods. The New York Police Department’s policy was a focal point in last year’s mayoral election and a major lawsuit.