B.C. solicitor general Rich Coleman has ordered the RCMP in the province to immediately recall all 578 of its older-model M-26 Tasers from service.

The moves comes after independent tests showed the same models—used by municipal police forces, sheriffs, and corrections officers—did not meet manufacturer’s specifications 80 percent of the time.

According to a press release issued today (June 1) by the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, no M-26 Taser used by a provincial agency or the RCMP in B.C. may be put back into service until its been tested, repaired, or replaced by a newer model.

The RCMP announced today that it is pulling all of its M-26s from service across the country until each stun gun can be tested.

Testing in May on M-26s used by provincial agencies found that 102 of 128 units did not meet specifications.

Twenty-five of the stun guns that failed testing came from municipal police detachments, 75 came from sheriffs, and two from corrections.

In December 2008, municipal police chiefs agreed to recall conducted energy weapons acquired before 2006 from service at the request of then solicitor general John van Dongen. Tests in April found that eight out of 82 X26 Tasers were “out of tolerance”.

Testing on 280 stun guns bought by provincial agencies after 2006 is also being conducted. The provincial government has directed the RCMP to test weapons fitting this description as well.

MPB Technologies is carrying out the tests in Ontario.

In 2007, Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant, died at Vancouver International Airport after he was tasered by the RCMP.

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