and instigated the private management contract for the new prison to British company Serco, on the recommendation of the Department of Corrections. This was the first prison since 2005 to be managed by a private sector contractor. In June 2010, Collins announced that from 1 July 2011 tobacco smoking and possessing lighters in prison would be banned, to reduce the health risk that smoking and fire presented to prison guards and prisoners. This ban was subsequently successfully challenged in court on two occasions, resulting in a law change to maintain it. Minister of Police Following a police trial of tasers in 2006–07, Collins supported their introduction by then Police Commissioner Howard Broad. In the 2009 budget she announced NZ$10 million worth of funding to complete a nationwide taser roll-out to all police districts, and since then has advocated that the police be given further discretion about when they can equip themselves with tasers. She has also supported increased access to firearms for frontline officers, by equipping all front-line police vehicles with lock boxes for firearms, but does not support the full-time general arming of police officers. During her early years in parliament, Collins developed a reputation for tough talking and in 2009 was nicknamed "Crusher Collins" when she proposed legislation to 'crush' the cars of persistent boy racers. Collins described herself as the minister "who brought back deterrence". Minister of Justice In 2012, Collins moderated the cuts-back to legal aid begun by her predecessor, Simon Power. She reduced the charges for family and civil cases, delayed the period before interest is charged on outstanding legal aid debt and dropped a proposal to make it harder to get legal aid for less serious crimes such as theft, assault or careless driving. She did however retain fixed fees for criminal work and the rotation of the legal aid to lawyers in all but the most serious cases, which attracted criticism from some lawyers. After a two-year investigation the Law Commission produced a report for government with 153 recommendations to reform New Zealand's alcohol laws. While some legislative changes were passed in December 2012, the Opposition and health sector lobbyists said the evidence-based advice from the Commission was disregarded by Collins and her predecessor Simon Power with the result that the final legislation "was a pale imitation of the landmark Law Commission report it was based on." Examples include Collins originally announcing a