The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) should be temporarily banned from using stun guns unless officers are prohibited from firing the electronic stun guns so often, the federal force's watchdog said in a report.

The report, prompted by the case of a Polish immigrant who died shortly after mounties shot him with tasers at Vancouver airport and then subdued him, said police were using the stun guns on suspects who did not pose a serious threat.

Paul Kennedy, who chairs the commission on public complaints against the RCMP, said the taser, also known as a conducted energy weapon (CEW), should only be used against people who were "combative" or posed a risk of "death or grievous bodily harm" to police.

"If the RCMP cannot account for the use of this weapon and properly instruct its members to appropriately deploy the CEW ... then such use should be prohibited until prompt and strict accountability and training measures can be fully implemented," he wrote.

The stun guns are made by US-based Taser International.

No one from the company was immediately available for comment.

"Our recommendations are designed to hold the RCMP publicly accountable for its use of a weapon that has caused considerable apprehension among Canadians, and to control usage creep," Mr Kennedy said.

"This is a time for a more conservative use of this weapon."

Critics say police are using tasers far too often and point to incidents where officers in British Columbia fired the stun guns at transit fare dodgers and also blasted an elderly man who was lying on a hospital stretcher.

Mr Kennedy said only those above the rank of corporal should be issued the weapons in cities.

In rural areas, where police levels are thinner, only members with five or more years' evidence should be allowed to use tasers.

- Reuters