Updated

Barbara Handschu is synonymous in New York City with the police guidelines about handling surveillance activities that bear her name.

And that's fine with the 73-year-old Manhattan lawyer who is no longer the lightning rod that led the FBI decades ago to build a 2-inch-thick file on her. Now, she marvels at the courage of young Muslim women who worry about surveillance like she once did.

Handschu became a household name in police circles when she became the lead plaintiff in a 1971 lawsuit challenging illegal surveillance of police activities. The lawsuit led to a consent decree and a continuing federal court case destined to live on long after Handschu is gone.