Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Monday he wouldn’t apologize for an intelligence program that has been keeping tabs on Muslims as part of the department’s counterterrorism efforts, even if some people don’t like it.

“Not everybody is going to be happy with everything the police department does, that’s the nature of our business,” Kelly said. “But our primary mission, our primary goal is to keep this city safe, to save lives. That’s what we’re engaged in doing.”

Some local politicians and potential candidates to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg who have criticized the department’s efforts were pandering because of the upcoming election season, Kelly said Monday on a local radio show on WOR. Others, like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and Newark Mayor Cory Booker were wrong to question the department, he said. The elected officials were responding to the recent disclosure that officers devoted several months in 2007 to surveillance of Muslim communities in New Jersey’s largest city. The result was a 60-page guide to Newark’s Muslims, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Kelly said it was a knee-jerk response and he had no plans to apologize. Bloomberg already has come out with strong support for the police department’s efforts.

And on Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said: “I don’t believe there’s any reason to second-guess the NYPD’s methods.”

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