Several years back, the City of Toronto initiated a 'pilot project' where a male psychiatric nurse would be teamed up with a plainclothes cop on patrol in the city's east downtown.

Since this was implemented I've heard any number of horror stories about this pair's exploits.

One I heard of in particular stands out: The team responded one time to a domestic violence call. Upon arrival they discovered a woman who was clearly distraught, shaking and crying, but also bearing the unmistakable signs of a recent beating. Her male partner was sitting nearby, emotionally as cool as a cucumber.

Which of this couple was it who ended up going out the door in handcuffs? One guess. Remember, this was considered a 'mental health' call, not a criminal matter.

In any civil rights-minded society, such a collaboration would have been recognized as the evil little pipe-dream it is, and would have never even seen the light of day. Obviously my home town is not civil rights-minded, as it has come to my attention that there are now seven of these units operating across the city - with still more on the way.

The primary danger here? Ordinarily 'mental health' workers, like anyone else, are legally persona non grata in someone else's home without the express permission of the resident. By virtue of being in the company of a police officer, this legal restriction can be bypassed by way of having the cop act on the basis that an 'emergency situation' exists, thereby legitimizing non-consensual entry.

Picture this scenario: a call goes out about someone in emotional distress in a private home. One of these teams attends, only to be balked at the door by the distraught resident. The 'nurse' is champing at the bit but but on his/her own is legally barred from entering without consent.

What happens next? This 'professional' voices the opinion that a 'medical emergency' exists, and the pig responds by raising his boot and kicking the door in.

Any number of things could then potentially happen - the terrified resident is wrestled to the floor, shackled and dragged off to the bin (likely with every neighbor watching the whole thing) or even forcibly injected on the floor of his/her own home. If things start looking really sketchy the cop also has a belt full of hardware to draw on - I'll leave that one up to your imagination.

The outcome? The safety of the person's home (probably the only true safe space that any of us can still legitimately lay claim to in this world, at least for those of us fortunate enough to be housed) has been violently breached - and possibly damaged beyond repair. I don't think I need to explain how traumatizing this is apt to be.

So much for the sanctity of people's personal living space. Through this collaboration psychiatry has now basically added home invasions to its bag of dirty tricks and the cops are given even greater powers to control the lives of angry, sad, frightened human beings.

What happened to the days when even the police couldn't legally enter someone's home without invitation or a warrant?

I have to wonder if this is also to become the enforcement unit targeting people who are under a community treatment order or other court-mandated outpatient treatment regimen. This is a possibility that definitely needs to be considered and planned for.

When it comes to responding to the needs of people in crisis we need to be removing the cops and 'professionals' from the equation altogether, not creating these Orwellian collaborations between the police and goons exported from the wards.  Such 'initiatives' only further violate vulnerable peoples' lives.