THE future of a police committee set up to harness the eyes and the ears of the community is hanging in the balance.
The Lancashire Police Authority community meetings are held in public several times a year but dwindling attendance figures have forced a review.
Established in the mid-1980s, the forums consist of a partnership of residents, Police Authority members and senior police officers working together to identify and deal with crime within the county.
At the latest meeting, which was held at Accrington Town Hall, just one member of the public turned up.
Apart from the committee, there must also be four additional authority members in attendance but only three arrived, meaning the meeting was invalid.
Chairman Maurice Cowell decided to hold an informal open meeting instead.
Members raised concerns that the meeting dates were not publicised enough but Mr Cowell said he felt there were too many other public meetings going on.
Naomi Walker, communications manager for the authority, said: "These meetings were a really good way of communicating with the public. What's happening is the authority has changed the way it operates.
"We are meeting people locally and we are getting a lot of information to feed back in.
"There are now residents' groups, community groups, area councils and Police and Community Together meetings and that's where people go if they have a problem."
Chief Superintendent David Mallaby said he believed it was important to concentrate on the areas that were proving to be a success.
He added: "This could possibly be a good thing. The reality is there are now so many avenues for people to go along it has changed the way the police get to the heart of what people want.
"We are now moving police officers out of stations to work in the community. It's just a different way of doing our business."
