There were other similar comments from officers in relation to in-force networks providing social events. These women commented that the social aspect of in-force networks, in their opinion, undermined the professional and developmental aspect of belonging and so disassociated themselves from such networks. A minority of officers questioned the necessity of the existence of networks whilst another officer comments upon the life’ of formal networks: ‘shelf in force Network and BAWP are useful for those who need it. Not “The everyone wants to take part in them. However, they do send strong message to the organisation but I do think they have got a shelf life”. In relation to the ACPO network one officer comments that it is: good network that combines both support and encouragement with a “A capacity to influence strategy and policy at a national level”. It seems that individual experience in relation to networking influences the individual’s perception as to their validity. It seems that the views of He, Zhao and Archbold (2002) about the creation of strong work-related networks are not entirely accurate with respect to female officer’s perceptions. Positive comments regarding networking included: conferences are generally fantastic”. “BAWP
There were other similar comments from officers in relation to in-force networks providing social events. These women commented that the social aspect of in-force networks, in their opinion, undermined the professional and developmental aspect of belonging and so disassociated themselves from such networks. A minority of officers questioned the necessity of the existence of networks whilst another officer comments upon the ‘shelf life’ of formal networks: “The in force Network and BAWP are useful for those who need it. Not everyone wants to take part in them. However, they do send strong message to the organisation but I do think they have got a shelf life”. In relation to the ACPO network one officer comments that it is: “A good network that combines both support and encouragement with a capacity to influence strategy and policy at a national level”. It seems that individual experience in relation to networking influences the individual’s perception as to their validity. It seems that the views of He, Zhao and Archbold (2002) about the creation of strong work-related networks are not entirely accurate with respect to female officer’s perceptions. Positive comments regarding networking included: “BAWP conferences are generally fantastic”.