If the phone is broadcasting the public key couldn't some malicious actor simply send the wrong location? Also couldn't they simply put it in a faraday bag or wrap in some tin foil?
Just one small anecdote, but I can't imagine many departments taking it upon themselves to do so.
Be sure to bring this up the next time the city asks for a tax increase for police funding.
If you're a thief and you want the phone to stop broadcasting, AFAIK you can just turn it off (as opposed to leaving it in sleep mode). But you'll have to deal with Activation Lock, which has been around for years and makes the phone a brick without the original owner's Apple ID. The new feature, on the other hand, is more applicable to devices that are just lost, not stolen.
Yes, but (1) that increases the difficulty of stealing such devices and (2) doesn’t help opportunistic or stupid thieves. Nobody is claiming that Find My makes Apple products unstealable.
I’ve never known the police to do anything about stolen property. Even stolen cars don’t seem to be investigated.