Installing red-light cameras at busy intersections is a growth industry, but one northwest suburban community has pulled the plug on a highly profitable camera amid worries a premier shopping venue was getting a reputation as a ticket destination.

Located at Meacham and Woodfield Roads near Woodfield Mall, the camera raked in $1 million in fines for Schaumburg between November and January.

The tickets came in a flood, some 10,000 of them, almost all for drivers not stopping before turning right on red. At $100 a ticket, the village’s coffers were overflowing.

But amid a flurry of complaints—some from scofflaws threatening never to shop again at the mall—the village recently decided to deactivate the camera, saying it wasn’t improving safety that much anyway.

When I worked at Burnham Harbor for a couple of summers, which is situated right in front of Soldier Field in downtown Chicago, the cops who worked our beat once told us a similar story about revenue generation that has stuck with me ever since. On days of Bears games, they were allegedly told from higher up to not arrest drivers with suburban addresses for DUI unless they were shit-canned drunk and could barely stand. It was to be left up to the Staties or their hometown cops to catch them further down the road.

The city relies on the parking revenues, alcohol tax and a slice of ticket sales and from the suburbanites who drive into the city. If they’re arrested and sent to Cook County, it’s likely that they’re not going to come back for a Bears game or any other sporting event and pour money into the city, and they might tell all their friends to do the same.