Phil Walzak, the mayor’s press secretary, said the meeting “focused on building a productive dialogue, and identifying ways to move forward together.”

Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Bratton left without speaking to reporters. The mayor was also joined by other top police officials, including James P. O’Neill, the chief of department, and Benjamin B. Tucker, the first deputy commissioner. First Deputy Mayor Anthony E. Shorris also attended.

The meeting was distinct from labor discussions with the unions. Three of the five police unions have already reached tentative labor agreements with the administration; the city is approaching arbitration proceedings with the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.

Officials with the administration seemed to bet that some of the union leaders might act as peacekeepers, or at least supply more measured voices, in the conflict with the patrolmen’s union.

However, in an email to members on Tuesday, Roy T. Richter, president of the Captains’ Endowment Association, said that he would allow the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association to “lead any conversation.” He added that he stood “in solidarity with them as they express raw outrage against the forces that caused the coldblooded assassination of our two brother police officers.”

Mr. Richter compared the emotional climate of the day to that immediately following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He wrote that he had met privately with Mr. de Blasio — “at his request” — just before Christmas “to give him a blunt critique of the hostile antipolice environment” in the city.

Mr. Richter seemed to express disappointment with the decision by some officers to turn their backs to Mr. de Blasio while he spoke at Officer Ramos’s funeral on Saturday. Mr. Richter acknowledged, however, that he understood officers’ anger.