Some remarks on the global structure of proper Lie groupoids in low codimensions

We observe that any connected proper Lie groupoid whose orbits have codimension at most two admits a globally effective representation, i.e. one whose kernel consists only of ineffective arrows, on a smooth vector bundle. As an application, we deduce that any such groupoid can up to Morita equivalence be presented as an extension, by some bundle of compact Lie groups, of some action groupoid G x X with G compact. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.