>The where function just takes your entity as a parameter and you return a boolean result. If you want no results you just return false:

operators = operators.Where(o => false));

>As for changing the type of the id, can't you just change the controller to accept string in place of int?

I can change the controller action but I am a bit worried if I also need to change my routes (I use default). I haven't tried it yet, so I am going to try it and see if problems arise.