More than 100 crimes a month are committed by people under the influence of alcohol in Angus.
The amount of crime is decreasing in Angus but the number of offences in which alcohol was an aggravator increased by 20 per cent last year.
The new figures show that the volume of crime committed by people under the influence of drink has increased for each of the last three years in Angus.
Eric Knox, director of Tayside Council on Alcohol, said he “wasn’t surprised” by the findings and blamed the availability of cheap alcohol in Scotland.
He said: “A lot of people are now buying their alcohol in supermarkets and are loaded up before they go out in an uncontrolled environment in their home.
“They pre-load before they go out and they are already absolutely hammered.
“It’s no surprise to me with the culture we’ve got with alcohol and the availability of it in supermarkets that alcohol-related crime is going up because there is more availability of alcohol than we’ve ever had.”
The number of Angus crimes with an “alcohol aggravator” were 898 in 2012/13, 997 in 2013/14, 1,053 in 2014/15 and 1,263 in 2015/16.
Meanwhile the volume of crime per 10,000 head of population, reduced from 295 in 2013/14 to 246 last year.
Mr Knox added: “We have to look to address this through the criminal justice system and try to get more involved with people who have offended to take control of their lives.
“Alcohol is cheaper than it’s ever been even though the Government has been pushing for minimum pricing.
“It’s been blocked by an industry for its own benefits, not thinking about the wellbeing of people in Scotland.”
North East MSP Alex Johnstone described the trend in Angus as “deeply worrying”.
He added: “Of course Scotland has a complex relationship with alcohol, but this increase demands that the Scottish Government does more to highlight the dangers of alcohol misuse.
“The only thing the SNP have come up with so far is minimum pricing, but in reality, it is not necessarily the cost of alcohol that is the problem, but the fact that people choose to misuse it.
“It is not just that alcohol misuse is an aggravating factor in crimes, it is also the knock on effect it has on services such as the NHS and police.
“There is no simple answer to this, we need a comprehensive response across a number of levels that deters this kind of behaviour, but so far we are just not seeing it.”
The Scottish Government said it had taken “robust action” on alcohol.
A spokesman said: “This government has a strong record on crime reduction — recorded crime is at a 42 year low.
“We have taken robust action in tackling alcohol misuse since 2009 — the quantity discount ban, improved substance misuse education and the new lower drink drive limit.
“We also remain committed to minimum unit pricing. We believe this is the most effective pricing measure to tackle the high strength, low cost alcohol that causes so much damage, such as violent behaviour, in our communities.”
