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Editor\u2019s note:<\/i><\/b> Today\u2019s post is by Captain Bruno Pettinato of the Military Police of the State of S\u00e3o Paulo (PMESP) in Brazil. The PMESP chose Android Enterprise for its 80,000 officers in S\u00e3o Paulo, and recently integrated the Remote Lock feature into their toolkit to help identify citizens’ stolen mobile devices and protect their personal data.<\/i><\/p>\n
Mobile phone robbery is a frustrating crime for both citizens and officers in Brazil. In S\u00e3o Paulo, the Pol\u00edcia Militar do Estado de S\u00e3o Paulo (PMESP) is focused on protecting the public, including managing security at major events like Carnaval de S\u00e3o Paulo. To deliver superior service for both the 80,000 officers on the street and the IT teams managing the fleet, PMESP chose Android Enterprise. We successfully deployed 10,000 Terminal Port\u00e1til de Dados (TPD) devices into police vehicles, equipping every PMESP officer in S\u00e3o Paulo with a dedicated, secure mobile tool.<\/p>\n
The TPD is an essential, fully managed device that houses critical applications for criminal and vehicle research, preparing police reports, and issuing traffic tickets. Android Enterprise enables centralized device and app management that simplifies operations for our IT teams. We can push essential apps like Google Maps from our S\u00e3o Paulo headquarters via Urmobo\u2019s Mobile Device Management (MDM), ensuring all 10,000 TPD devices receive the update in just minutes. The ease of deployment of Zero-Touch, combined with Android\u2019s commitment to regular security updates, ensures our officers always have the most secure and up-to-date tools available.<\/p>\n
The success of the Android Enterprise TPD devices went beyond core functions. Officers quickly became so comfortable using the devices that they started coming to their leaders with new ideas for using Android features to improve productivity or to help citizens. This is how we learned about the potential of Android Remote Lock.<\/p>\n
Attendees often ask on-site PMESP officers for help when phones are stolen or lost at major public events, like Carnaval de S\u00e3o Paulo. In the past, we were only able to help by filing a police report. With Brazil’s high Android usage, we realized leveraging a built-in Android security feature could empower our officers to help victims secure their personal data and prevent its misuse by criminals.<\/p>\n
We shared our challenge with Google\u2019s Android Enterprise team in S\u00e3o Paulo. They helped us understand how we could leverage Remote Lock across our 10,000 TPD devices, a critical solution due to Brazil\u2019s high Android usage. We are now able to better serve phone theft victims with the help of Android\u2019s built in security.<\/p>\n
If police officers are alerted to a device theft, they can access the Remote Lock web page, part of Android Find Hub, using their TPDs. An officer enters the citizen\u2019s phone number in Find Hub, and that\u2019s it \u2014 the device screen is locked, preventing someone else from accessing or misusing the personal data on the phone.<\/p>\n
Even better, we can now track the stolen device’s location immediately. With the victim’s permission, we log them into their account using the Find Hub guest mode on TPDs to begin tracking. From the moment tracking begins, we can report movement via GPS and enable the tracking of devices to recover the device and arrest the criminal, providing even better service for our citizens.<\/p>\n
The State of S\u00e3o Paulo began using Remote Lock in June of 2025. Since then, the feature has been used by PMESP officers more than 5,000 times. Plus, a video we created that tells citizens how to turn on the Remote Lock feature has gained more than 1 million views.<\/p>\n
We hear every day from our offices who help citizens with the Remote Lock feature that they can see the relief on the victims\u2019 faces when they realize their personal data will be safe from criminals. Based on its ease of use and warm reception by our community, we believe this solution can be replicated by police departments across the world and invite other organizations to discover the power of always-on Android security by contacting a partner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n