A note 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 on a smooth vector bundle, i.e., one whose kernel consists only of ineffective arrows. As an application, we deduce that any such groupoid can up to Morita equivalence be presented as an extension of some action groupoid G n X with G compact by some bundle of compact Lie groups.