Incidents of assault and drug violations have both increased more than 40 percent over the past year, while reported incidents of driving under the influence have more than doubled, according to a January DartStat report.

In 2015, 46 aggravated assaults — which include serious injuries and/or the use of weapons — were reported to the Dartmouth Police Department. In 2016, that number rose to 60 aggravated assaults, a 43-percent increase.

Additionally, simple assaults — including minor injuries, touching, and threatening behavior— amounted for another 204 reports in 2016, up 24 percent from 2015.

"What we're trying to highlight is that in January 2015, everyone was pretty much snowed in," said Town Administrator David Cressman. "That's where we saw [the rise], in the first quarter of the [2016] calendar year, and it's kind of carried through."

(By March 30, 2016, 21 aggravated assaults had been reported, as opposed to 10 in the same 2015 range; by December 31, 2016, 66 aggravated assaults had been reported, and 46 in the 2015.)

Police Chief Bob Szala had a different interpretation of the statistics.

“In 34 years of law enforcement, I’ve definitely experienced a change in culture,” he said via phone. He named handshakes, a man’s word, and peaceful conflict resolution as things that don’t exist anymore. “People just don’t get along like they used to.”

Szala added that life is tougher now, with bills and stressors that didn’t exist decades ago now compounding on the average person. And then, drug use is up.

Drug and narcotic violations increased by 41 percent between 2015 and 2016. Thirty-eight instances were reported in 2016; 27 were reported in 2015.

Reports of driving under the influence rose 213 percent. In 2016, there were 50 instances, while in 2015, there were only 16.

Szala said these numbers, while in part related to the drug epidemic, are also due to increased enforcement.

“The manpower’s been shifted a bit,” he said. “We’re attacking the problem more aggressively.”

The total number of reported crimes rose about 15 percent between 2015 and 2016.

Other numbers:

-Intimidation rose from 100 reported instances in 2015 to 127 instances in 2016, a 27 percent increase.

-Burglary/ breaking and entering rose six percent, from 94 instances in 2015 to 100 instances in 2016.

-Shoplifting reports rose 20 percent, from 287 reports in 2015 to 344 reports in 2016.

-Larceny from a building rose 25 percent between 2015 and 2016, while larceny from a motor vehicle rose five percent between the same time period. All other larceny reports dropped 10 percent between 2015 and 2016.

-Motor vehicle theft dropped three percent, with 39 reports in 2015 and 38 reports in 2016.

-Fraud incidents (including false pretenses, swindling) rose 15 percent. Eighty-two instances were reported in 2015, while 94 were reported in 2016.

-Vandalism and property destruction reports rose 15 percent, with 2015 producing 204 reports, and 2016 producing 234 reports.

-All other offenses rose 22 percent, with 328 instances reported in 2015 and 401 instances reported in 2016.