City officials and elected leaders yesterday called for calm in the run-up to a decision about whether to indict the police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell on the night before his wedding.

With a grand jury’s indictment decision possible as early as today, both city and neighborhoods leaders attempted to preemptively quell racial tensions that could spill onto the streets if New Yorkers are dissatisfied with the verdict.

“We don’t want any violence,” Bishop Lester Williams, who was scheduled to officiate at Bell’s wedding, said. “The mother has clearly stated that she doesn’t want any other sons or mothers to have to endure what she’s endured since November. So we’re just asking the city to remain calm.”

Mayor Bloomberg used the final hours before the indictment decision to meet with Mr. Williams and about 20 other community leaders in Queens during an hour-an-a-half closed-door gathering. The meeting, which took place at Thomasina’s, a banquet hall in the Cambria Heights section of Queens, capped off more than three months of jockeying by the mayor to keep influential African American leaders from southeast Queens on his side as he tries to maintain the peace.

Mr. Bloomberg also spoke by phone yesterday to Bell’s mother and to his fiancée, Nicole, as well as to the Reverend Al Sharpton, who has acted as a point person for the family.

During seven minutes of opening remarks to community leaders and reporters, the mayor struck a conciliatory tone, saying the city was “very sensitive to emotions,” and noting that “whatever the grand jury decides we’ll have to live with it.”

“No matter what happens there will be people who feel that there were not enough indictments and people who feel that there were too many indictments,” he said at Thomasina’s, the same spot he met with leaders in the days after the shooting.

From the outset of this case, Mr. Bloomberg has taken a remarkably different to approach to dealing with the public than his predecessor, Mayor Giuliani, took when another unarmed black man was killed in a rain of police fire in 1999.

His outreach efforts have not stopped the protests, during which many have been demanding changes to undercover police practices. The shooting, which involved a mix of black and white officers, also injured two of Bells friends.

Yesterday, some in Queens said people would take to the streets if “justice” is not delivered. “If they don’t indict, the community is going to go crazy,” Barbie Howell, who was waiting for the mayor to finish his meeting, said. “They are going to file out onto Jamaica Avenue.”

A hospital worker who was folding her cloths at a Laundromat down the street from the meeting, Joyce Johnson, said if the “community doesn’t get justice” it will “rebel.”

“I’m not talking about rebel in terms of gunfire or violence,” she said as she smoothed a pair of white hospital pants.

Still, the competing interests of the police officers, all of whom testified in front of the grand jury, and the community is evident.

The head of the city’s detective union, Michael Palladino, said the officers were “acting in good faith” and that they “were faced with a life threatening situation.” An indictment, he said, would send “a very chilling message” to all law enforcement officials.

Mr. Sharpton said he was “cautiously prayful” that the officers would be indicted, but said, “We will do whatever is necessary to get justice in this matter.”

Mr. Sharpton said he was not calling for any “disruptions” if the officers were not indicted. He said the focus should be on the violence that ended Bell’s life, not on violence related to protests that haven’t even happened.

The police department has officers on call in the event of unrest on the streets. Commissioner Raymond Kelly said 1,700 police officers would be available to deploy after the indictment and for several other large public events, including the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and anti-war protests.

City Council Member Thomas White Jr. said it is time to let the “wheels of justice turn.”

“We will wait,” he said. “Quite naturally, there is anxiety on both ends.”