About 10 per cent of Tasers used by B.C. police and corrections officers failed a test conducted by an independent laboratory, according to results released on Thursday.
Eight out of 82 model-X26 Tasers tested failed and they must be destroyed, or repaired and retested, before going back into service.
Of the models that failed, seven produced a pulse rate that was too weak. The other, was described as having failed “due to a combination of factors” in a news release by the B.C. government. No further details were given.
The 10 per cent failure rate is consistent with test results in other jurisdictions.
The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General is still waiting for the test results of 128 M26 model Tasers that have been pulled from use.
In December, the solicitor general directed B.C.’s municipal chiefs of police to pull from service Tasers that were acquired before Jan. 1, 2006 for testing after independent testing suggested a few of the Tasers were giving out a greater electrical charge than expected by the manufacturer’s specifications.
MPB Technologies, a laboratory near Ottawa that has experience in aeronautical, military and compliance testing, is inspecting the devices at a cost of $36,000.
