Mall license plate scanning

I just wanted to write in and express a concern. I have been informed of some new changes that will be happening at our local shopping centre.

Effective August first, Orchard Park mall will now be scanning our license plates to ensure that no vehicle remains in their parking lot for over four hours. While apparently they are within their rights to do this, as it is their property, it raises quite a few concerns for me. This means that we can no longer be at the mall for more then four hours to shop, as they have a fun new  technology that will scan your license plate number, and identify if you have been there for more than the maximum time. Security staff will be patrolling the parking lot, scanning your plates and entering it into a database to keep track of how long you have been at the mall. If your vehicle exceeds the four hours, you will be given a citation on your car, as well as photos taken of your car, and the location of the offence. This information will be stored to use against you if you dare go shopping for more then four hours again. After a third citation, they will then tow your vehicle. 

Part of this new system is to be able to apparently enforce the staff parking at the mall. While I understand the concern that mall staff can be taking up spots closer to the building entrance's, the staff are now being required to provide all of their license plate info and car info to the security team to ensure that all the parking rules are now being followed.  However, this also means then, that if the staff go to the mall to shop on their day off, security will scan their car, recognize it's an employee car, and then what? Will they be given a citation too, for parking where they shouldn't, even when they are a paying customer at the mall on a day off?

With this new parking program coming into place, this means that people can no longer 'meet at Orchard Park' with their friends to carpool somewhere. You can kiss Big White ski trips goodbye where people used to all meet at the mall and travel together. Any of our out of town shoppers (who can often spend the entire day at the mall) will no longer able to do that without getting in trouble.

The only thing that this program is going to succeed in doing is keep people away from the mall, because they don't want to have their vehicles scanned, don't want to deal with the inconvenience of being hassled or having to watch the clock so they don't get citations.  Less traffic to the mall means less money made. Less money made, means less hours for staff. Less hours for staff means people don't have steady jobs.

I don't think I'm the only one who has a problem with my vehicle being scanned, data entered, and monitored when I didn't ask for it to be. 

Chericce Schulz