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I seems like there have been a lot of thefts reported in the paper’s emergency services listing lately. Are we experiencing some kind of crime spree? — Jim, Medford Have no fear, Jim, what you’re seeing is the result of a change in what we’re reporting, rather than a change in the level of crime in the area. We recently changed our approach to reporting burglaries and thefts, dropping the requirement that there be a minimum value before we’d publish it. That minimum had declined over the years, from $1,000 to $500 and, now, to any reported amount. The powers that be here at the old Muddy Tributary figured that people might be highly interested in the fact that a house or a vehicle in their neighborhood had been broken into. That hits a lot closer to home, so to speak, than a drug arrest of somebody from out of town or with no address at all. Speaking of drug arrests, there are actually a bit fewer of those, thanks to a change in state law that downgraded first-time offenses for drugs such as meth and heroin from felonies to misdemeanors. Our arrests in the emergency services listing are for felonies only. That change isn’t likely to reduce the number by a lot, however, as most drug offenders are in the been-there-done-that-before category. Our Friday listings included several that wouldn’t have previously qualified for what internally we still call the police log: two pairs of Ray-Ban sunglasses, valued at $350; gift certificates, books and a vehicle registration (go figure), valued at $158; and an interesting theft from a vehicle that included “a tablet, Bluetooth adapter, child’s backpack, black purse, sunglasses, five cans of beer, a debit card and an Oregon Trail card,” valued at $274. All of those listings included the street and block of where the incident occurred. For those who are keeping track, the categories that we report in our emergency services log are felony arrests and crime reports — which is where the thefts appear. Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected]. We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.