I wouldn't know what goes through the mind of a "petty criminal", not being one myself.
Approaching the former employer, preferably before leaving, would probably be the best solution, except it is possible that due to poor management of IT Policies they no longer have the "default" to deploy.
Does a hosted BES (Mailstreet?) send IT Policies to the handhelds? If so, maybe sign up for a brief period of time with one of them.