With a verdict on the horizon in the Sean Bell trial — one that has the potential of sparking outrage throughout the city — Mayor Bloomberg yesterday met with leaders of the black community in Queens to discuss the need for leadership in the aftermath of the decision.

If Judge Arthur Cooperman acquits the three officers charged in the shooting of Bell, an unarmed man who was killed in barrage of 50 bullets, civil unrest could resemble that following the 2000 acquittal of four white police officers in the shooting of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed black man fatally shot in the Bronx. Then, about 100 people were arrested for participating in various protests on charges that included reckless endangerment and inciting a riot.

Some of the leaders who met with Mr. Bloomberg yesterday at New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Jamaica were adamant that only a guilty verdict for the detectives, Gescard Isnora, Michael Oliver, and Marc Cooper, would demonstrate justice, but they downplayed the plausibility of any violence.

"If there is no justice, then we absolutely will be calling for a peaceful, law abiding, responsible, but militant demonstration," a City Council member who represents parts of Queens, James Sanders, said after meeting with the mayor.