Only they can fix themselves
The Frustration of In-Group Accountability in Addressing Institutions
I may be too optimistic, but there seems to be a shift in institutional trust in Los Angeles during the last five years. Many more people are speaking openly about how much they pay for failed public services and a worse quality of life. Despite growing dissatisfaction with law enforcement, public safety, utilities, the courts, these things can't, or won't, change. In some cases, in spite of actual evidence of corruption, they just won't change.
That's due to one simple fact: the only people who can meaningfully police a group are those within it. Good cops have to call out bad ones. Peaceful protesters have to stop rioters. Honest priests have to expose abuse in the church. Even on a very personal level, we are the only ones who can call out our friends in a way that could get through to them. Outsiders may protest, investigate, or demand change, but lasting reform always depends on insiders leading and sustaining that change.
And that’s incredibly frustrating. Because most of the time, insiders don’t do it.
Across institutions, from police departments and the Catholic Church to Facebook, Hollywood, and the military, meaningful reform often hinges on insiders choosing to hold their own accountable, even at personal risk. Whether it’s officers testifying against a colleague in the George Floyd case, a Facebook employee leaking internal harm studies, or church whistleblowers exposing decades of abuse, outsiders may raise alarms, but only those within the group have the access, authority, and perceived legitimacy to force change. Yet these same insiders are often constrained by loyalty, fear, or complicity, which makes reform both urgently necessary and maddeningly elusive.
The recent swath of massive failures in natural disaster response has made it clear that institutions are not moved by external forces. In light of the Eaton Fire, displaced residents have asked basic questions:
How did so many people die in a town that was mostly destroyed, in one of the most heavily taxed counties in the country?
Why was there only one fire truck in Western Altadena?
Why did thousands of people receive an evacuation warning hours after their city was on fire?
Why was the county unprepared for a windstorm that was forecast a week in advance?
Why has the sheriff failed to police a now depopulated area?
When will the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors report on the failures of that night and the months after?
The people have been asking these questions for 8 months. Answers, or even promises of answers, have failed to materialize. Institutions have circled the horses and deflected any responsibility to the people who pay them.
Why does this matter so much? Because when insiders fail to act, the system protects itself and the public loses faith. Harm continues. Accountability stalls. And outsiders are left watching institutions defend their worst members while punishing their best, all while neglecting the duties they swore to uphold.
It creates a deadlock: outsiders can’t fix it, and insiders won’t.
Change happens when whistleblowers and do-gooders are protected instead of punished. When the incentives shift culturally, legally, or financially, then silence becomes riskier than speaking up. When insiders stop prioritizing loyalty over justice, we'll see change.
Only the "good ones" inside:
Cal OES can explain why warnings weren't sent on time
FEMA can explain why assistance is a facade
The fire department can explain why there was only one fire truck in western Altadena, and how so many homes were lost despite a week of advance notice
The sheriff can explain why the sheriff wasn't evacuating residents
FireAid grant recipient organizations can explain how the money is being used
The governor's office and the board of supervisors can highlight and mitigate future failures
Until they do, those insiders who maintain the status quo, even though they know something is rotten, are complicit in the corruption. These are not localized failures. Every community in the world is dealing with these or similar institutional challenges - most recently the flood victims in Texas - yet nothing will change until the good in-group members champion goodness internally.