WASHINGTON — The number of sexual assaults reported by the military dipped slightly in 2015 compared with the previous year, spurring military leaders to look for new ways to encourage troops to intervene when they see a potentially dangerous situation.

The Pentagon said Thursday there were 6,083 reports of sexual assault involving an active-duty service member in 2015, compared with 6,131 in 2014. The number of men reporting sexual assaults also remained relatively the same, at 19 percent of the reported victims, compared with 20 percent in 2014.

Noting that the numbers ‘‘have plateaued,’’ Admiral John Richardson, the Navy’s top officer, said it’s time to make midgrade and junior officers and enlisted service members more accountable when they see a bad situation developing. And it starts, he said, with eliminating the concept of bystanders.

‘‘Nobody is a bystander — we are all in this,’’ Richardson told The Associated Press. ‘‘’Bystander’ kind of creates a potential haven to make a choice — do I want to get involved or do I not. And there’s no choice in our business . . . You are not a bystander; you are a full-up participant in this and so you’ve got an obligation to go in and help your shipmate.’’

Major General Camille Nichols, director of the Pentagon’s sexual assault prevention and response office, said that surveys done last year suggested that 88 percent of the service members who said they saw a situation that ‘‘could have led to a sexual assault’’ did something to step in. But only 3 percent of the nearly 540,000 active duty military members surveyed said they actually saw that kind of situation.

The problem, officials said, is that often young troops may not recognize a bad situation until it becomes very obviously dangerous.

Associated Press