The indictment of three police officers in the aftermath of the Sean Bell shooting is gratifying to some and troubling to others. Police officers must make instant decisions with fragmentary or imperfect knowledge.

The slow and contentious procedure of criminal law is an imperfect way to determine the responsibility and degree of fault some police officers may have made in the Bell case. The 50 shots fired at Bell make people overreact, just as did the 41 bullets fired at Amadou Diallo on February 4, 1999. In the Diallo case, the Bronx County district attorney indicted the police officers for second-degree murder, the trial was moved to Albany County, and the four defendants were acquitted.

The Diallo case was factually simpler than the Bell case. Diallo was leaving his home in the Bronx when he was confronted by some police officers. Diallo reached for the identity papers in his pocket, as is done in his native Senegal, which was perceived as Diallo reaching for a gun by an officer. A fusillade by four policemen ensued. The Diallo case was awful, the Bell case, although equally tragic, is murkier. This is not a typical race case — two of the three defendants are black.

Sean Bell did drive a car into other vehicles and was said to have hit a policeman. He may have done this because he was fearful and in flight; that is an issue that will arise at the trial of the three indicted officers.

Defense lawyers will try to move the case out of town, preferably upstate, where the case has not been so widely publicized, and where there may be many different jurors. The district attorney of Queens, Richard Brown, will oppose the change of venue.

The judge who will preside over the case, Justice Arthur Cooperman, who is 73 years old, was chosen to preside by random selection from a wheel containing the names of judges who volunteered their services. He will decide whether to grant the motion to change the venue.

Legal observers said that the indictment of the officers for murder in the Diallo case was overreaching because mistaken as the police obviously were, they could not be found beyond a reasonable doubt to have murdered Diallo without believing they had just cause.

The description of the white police officer in tears after no gun was found on Diallo indicates that the police did not shoot maliciously. Diallo would have been just as dead after one or two well-placed shots than 41 bullets, of which 22 missed him entirely. Although one shot would have been wrong, it was the multiplicity of bullets that made the case scandalous.

Reverend Al Sharpton tells us where he wants the trial to be held: “The question of venue change is not only wrong but insulting the intelligence of the public and the intelligence of the court. We will not participate in or co-operate with a trial outside of Queens County.” Mr. Sharpton’s noncooperation is likely to have limited effect.

This case will dissuade some police officers from shooting too soon, but it should not dissuade anyone from shooting when necessary. There are psychotic and depraved people out there, who will kill others if they have the chance. About 600 people were murdered last year in New York City — the peak year was 1990, with 2,245 murders.

There is no best way to resolve such tragedies, but whatever the outcome in a particular case, in the long run, courts are probably the best places to find justice. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, they are the worst places to find justice, except for all the others.

Mr. Stern, president of New York Civic, was New York City’s parks commissioner under Mayors Koch and Giuliani.