TR,
I have flown both Police, EMS, and Nuclear Security tasks with Non-Pilot "Crew" Members in all three kinds of operations.
Despite the FAA seeing them as Passengers....we worked as a Crew.
They all were trained to monitor and assist the Pilot in various ways, were fully briefed upon normal and emergency procedures to the extent they had adequate knowledge to facilitate that assistance to the Pilot and to be able to monitor the flight parameters such as fuel endurance, routing, obstructions, terrain, weather, traffic avoidance, and other safety issues.
We also operated on the "One Dissenting Vote" Rule....for weather decisions and other safety related matters. Being the Pilot, in our system, we held the Veto Power......as our "No Vote" was final.
With that in mind, what I am suggesting is even though they were not Flight Crew per the official definition.....just as in our FAA view....the Police Crew have a role to play in the safe conduct of every flight just as did my Nurses, Paramedics, Deputy Sheriffs, and Special Response Team Members.
That Concept of Operation is my frame of reference when I said what I did about the Police Officers and the Pilot.
I mean no slight to the individuals but we do have to be honest in how we look at the situation......there were three "Crew Members" on the aircraft and they all had roles to play in seeing it being conducted safely.
If we take a Human Factors view of this accident, just as we should on each such tragedy, we cannot remove the Non-pilot Crew from the situation.