During a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Denzel Washington — who is no stranger to playing a police officer in his films, addressed the criticism of the police system in America.

He said, “I have the utmost respect for what they do, for what our soldiers do, people that sacrifice their lives. I just don’t care for people who put those kind of people down. If it weren’t for them, we would not have the freedom to complain about what they do.”