A low crime district could lose control of its own bobbies to a "big brother" organisation as part of a police authority shake-up.

Craven police division - part of North Yorkshire police authority -- could be swallowed up in widespread boundary changes.

The police authority is undertaking a comprehensive boundary and structure review which could spell the end of Craven as a self-contained unit.

From having the status of a division overseen by a superintendent, it could be left with just an inspector in charge.

Skipton - the headquarters of the division - is already set to lose its new control room when the force completes two purpose-built centres to house the latest communications technology. One will be based in York and a location for the second has still to be decided.

A review team has been established to look into the plans and to consult local people, including the newly set up Community Safety Partnership in Craven.

The proposal has been blasted by Craven District Council chairman Councillor Janet Gott, who chairs the CSP and the local crime prevention panel.

"We do not want anything taken away. Hopefully the review team went away more enlightened," she said.

"We want Craven to stay as it is and not to be amalgamated with somewhere else. It's an horrific idea. We don't want someone miles away saying what is going to happen here. We want people on the spot.

"It doesn't make sense to me - how can community safety work if the management is miles away."

A police spokesman said new technology meant more efficient communications and the possibility of rationalising the force organisation.

"We will not be reducing the number of uniformed officers. The county already has the lowest ratio of officers to the population and the lowest funding in the country,'' he added.

He said with today's communications it was not necessary to have one particular officer covering a given area. Policing could be efficiently carried out by a team over a 24-hour period.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.