As 17 year-old Waseem Taslem paid silent tribute to murdered Sharon Beshenivsky yesterday he was also considering his own future - as a police officer.

In the week since PC Beshenivsky was gunned down and her colleague Teresa Milburn was injured, the electronics student's life was changed: "The police protect us and our communities, and it is my responsibility to be here. It took courage, and she has inspired me to be a policeman. I am going to start training."

The Bradford College student wasn't alone in his emotion.

Hundreds of people - all races, all ages, and many beliefs - stood together in an icy Centenary Square seven days on from the events of November 18.

Suited office workers stood beside mothers and children, the flat-capped joined the baseball-capped in solemn respect.

Susan McLaughlin, originally from Canada and now living in Shipley, is in training to become a special constable.

After PC Beshenivsky's death she considered stopping, but thought twice: "The shooting affected me more than it might have done in the past because I could now see myself being in that position. On the night of the shooting I was very upset, but my son really helped by asking what the chances of it happening to me really are."

Nearby were those who had already seen service. Wearing redcaps and medals, Alan Walsh and Bill Spence, both former Bradford policemen, represented the West Yorkshire branch of the Royal Military Police Association.

Mr Walsh said: "We are both here to represent part of the wider police fraternity and to pay our respects. We have experienced shock and revulsion, but the reaction of the community today has been comforting."

Before the service began Gurnham Singh, of Bradford's Sikh Temple, carried flowers: "This has been a very bad week and a big shock to us all. We are in deepest sympathy with the police and all of Bradford and we felt it was important to be here."

Members of all the emergency services gathered side by side and, at 3.15pm the Bishop of Bradford, the Right Reverend David James, began the service with prayers for both officers, their families and friends, their colleagues and the wider community.

The Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Valerie Binney then spoke of her certainty that PC Beshenivsky's sacrifice would never be forgotten, and added: "This tragedy highlights the debt we owe to our police."

And then, at 3.30pm, Bradford fell silent.

In Centenary Square, only the sound of sirens broke the peace. Nearby at Bradford police headquarters on the Tyrls officers stood with their heads bowed.

It was a similar story across the rest of the city with shoppers and storekeepers in the Kirkgate centre among those marking the moment.

Staff at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust observed it as did members of West Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

Across the country other police forces, and the Police Federation, held similar moments of reflection.

Back in Centenary Square, silence ended as the City Hall's bells played Amazing Grace and the crowd fell away beneath Christmas lights which slowly glowed into life.