Stonington — So far this year, the police department has almost doubled the number of drunken driving arrests that it has made compared with the same time period in 2014.

From Jan. 1 through July 31, the department made 72 arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs compared with 39 for the same period last year.

Last month, police made another eight DWI arrests, including one on Monday, bringing the year’s total to 80.

Capt. Todd Olson said the arrests are the result of an increased focus in the department on enforcing motor vehicle laws including driving under the influence.

He said officers also have been issuing summonses for other driving offenses in an effort to decrease the number of accidents and improve safety.

He added that among those on patrol are officers who recently graduated from the police academy and have the latest training in DWI detection.

The department also has many veteran officers who have made numerous DWI arrests.

“I truly attribute this to the dedication of our officers and supervisors to maintaining safe roads not just for our citizens but our visitors as well,” Olson said. “The guys on patrol are really doing a great job.”

The overwhelming majority of those being arrested for DWI are middle aged or older. Arrests of drivers in their teens and 20s are rare.

Olson, who has not studied the age statistics closely, said he is not sure why this happening but said it may that younger drivers have got the message about the dangers of drunken driving.

Olson said the department also has used grants to fund targeted patrols to detect distracted drivers, such as those using cellphones, as well as those not wearing seat belts.

The increase in DWI arrests is similar to a time period about 10 years ago, when officers here were making more than 200 drunken driving arrests annually.

In those years, Stonington police chalked up more drunken driving arrests than several other area police departments combined.

The town quickly gained a reputation for being a place where drivers had a good chance of being pulled over for drunken driving.

Some of the officers who made many of those arrests are still on the force.

Since 2007, the number of DWI arrests had been dropping.

j.wojtas@theday.com

Twitter: @joewojtas