I would say that it would not be unreasonable to suspect that this is occurring, given that the number of incidents resolved simply by displaying the device are at the rate they are. There is no question that this is a pop culture phenomenon now. There is rap music about the device. I'm pretty confident, at least in Toronto, that more people are aware of them and the circumstances in which police have deployed them. That may in fact influence the number of successful resolutions in cases where we don't actually have to apply the device, we simply present it.
On February 27th, 2008. See this statement in context.