While Dartmouth’s ongoing data collection program gives number wonks something to celebrate, the program's revealed trends such as an increase in ambulance calls and decrease in crime.

The three-person team that manages DartStat, a program that sorts through data to increase efficiency within state municipalities, presented their latest findings to the Select Board Monday night. DartStat is part of the Government Analytics Program, which is housed at the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management at UMass Boston, and came to Dartmouth about three years ago.

Administrative Analyst Evan Melillo, who works for the Town of Dartmouth, highlighted some trends from the Department of Public Works, ambulance calls and the rates at which permits are processed.

“Since the town has moved to automated recycling, we haven’t had a single injury,” said Melillo, referring to the mechanical arms on the sides of trucks that lift recycling containers. “That’s great. That’s a great amount of injuries the town has not been paying for.”

The data revealed that while crime in Dartmouth has decreased slightly since 2014, the rate of ambulance calls has risen — particularly around the area of Bliss Corner and North Hixville Road.

According to DartStat data, in fiscal year 2014, Mondays were the busiest days for ambulances, with 560 calls. In the past six months, Tuesdays and Fridays were the heaviest days with 727 and 725 calls respectively.

“One of the things we also do with the DartStat program is make sure that we are efficient internally,” said Tanya Stepasiuk, a government services specialists based in UMass Boston. “We can take a look at the processing times for common permits. The staff generally does a great job turning around most types of permits in just a couple of business days.”

“For most of the common things that you want to do to your house or property, it’s going to be a few-day turnaround,” she said.

Stepasiuk and her colleague from UMass Boston, Lyden Marcellot, work alongside Melillo to process the town’s data into charts, tables and maps. The team presents its findings to the Board every six months, but data collection is ongoing.

“We meet with the biggest departments — Finance, the Department of Public Works, police and inspection services,” said Stepasiuk.

“We get together once a month for an hour for each department. We collect data throughout the course of the month to analyze it. It’s a great opportunity to get together, for us to track trends, bring data together between departments and ask questions,” she said.

Because Stepasiuk and Marcellot crunch data for towns throughout Massachusetts, they can share knowledge and help towns and cities develop strategies for improvement. Stepasiuk used Dartmouth’s lack of injuries to town workers following the implementation of automated recycling as a good example of what other towns might want to consider.

“The information that they provide has been used by various boards. It’s a great tool,” said Select Board chair Shawn McDonald. “The stuff we get alone on the police — that’s used in determining what sectors to concentrate in.”

“It’s also about transparency,” said Town Administrator David Cressman. “Too often, I find that people walk around with misinformation or myths about government. This, hopefully, demystifies some of those aspects.”

“I’ve heard that it takes so long for government to process permits. [DartStat] shows that for regular permits — whether it’s windows, siding, re-roofing, solar panels — the Town of Dartmouth turns those permits around in a timely manner,” said Cressman.

Stepasiuk said that, in some municipalities, it’s a challenge to gather data from town departments because some towns may not have the right computer software in place. Some towns may acquire the data, but do nothing with it.

“Dartmouth is pretty progressive in terms of following this model closely and regularly. David Cressman is especially good at utilizing the data and being proactive about it,” she said.

She said an example of this was the team’s focus on the number of ambulance calls in the past six months.

“The ambulance data presentation came about because we knew that the ambulance contract was coming up for renewal, so we wanted to find out if we’re happy with the ambulance service. Are there ways we can improve on it?”

In the future, the DartStat team hopes to track data regarding land use around town, as well.