Pasadena, Pomona Mark Dip in Crime : Statistics: Figures released by the attorney general show major crime down in the two largest cities in the San Gabriel Valley. Anti-gang programs were credited with helping the decline.

Pomona and Pasadena, the San Gabriel Valley’s most populous and crime-ridden cities, recorded decreases in major crime for the first six months of 1990, according to preliminary figures released by the state attorney general.

The decline stood in contrast to figures reported by all of the state’s 52 biggest police agencies, which combined logged increases in nearly every category of crime compared to the first half of 1989, the report from the attorney general’s bureau of criminal statistics showed.

The reductions in Pomona and Pasadena also reversed some of the increases registered last year in the two cities, which had more major offenses per 1,000 residents than any other San Gabriel Valley communities.

“A few months doesn’t make a track record,” Pomona Police Capt. Chuck Heilman said. “But we’re hoping that what we’re doing is on the right track.”

Pomona, which last year recorded a 2.2% gain in crime, was down 6.2% for the first half of 1990, according to the state report.

Between January and June, the city had 17 murders, compared to 25 for the same period in 1989, representing a 32% decrease. Assault dropped 5.1%, burglary went down 16.1% and theft sunk by 5.4%

The only categories to show increases were robbery, which climbed from 386 to 434, a 12.4% increase, and rape, which went from 31 to 39, up 26%.

In Pasadena, where serious crimes rose 14.9% in 1989, there was a 13% drop for the first six months of this year, the report showed.

Murders were down from 11 to eight, a 27% decrease. Robbery dropped by 5.5%, assault fell 30.7%, burglary sunk 22.5%, and theft was cut by 10.2%.

Increases were logged only in arson, which went from 34 to 46 incidents, up 35%; auto theft, which inched from 670 to 675, a 0.7% rise, and rape, which was up from 20 to 29, an increase of 45%.

Pasadena Police Lt. Gregg Henderson attributed the decreases to an anti-gang task force formed at the end of last year and to other programs that have landed some of the city’s hard-core criminals in jail. But because the offenders will eventually get out, he cautioned against celebrating.

“Statistically, it looks good and people feel good when they hear crime is down,” Henderson said. “But if you live and die by stats, you’re going to die. . . . Next month, you could be calling me and saying, ‘Hey, did you know your stats went up 10%?’ ”

Pomona police, who last year ended up investigating a record 44 homicides, also attributed their declines to special programs focusing on gang members.

In particular, officers have tried to keep tabs on those youths thought to be the “shot-callers”--the most active and violent members of their clique--by taking them into custody on what used to be considered minor parole violations.

“Instead of trying to catch a guy doing something, we can now pick him up for being with another gang member or knock at his door at 7 in the morning and search his room,” Heilman said. “The word is out that the courts are taking these things seriously.”

The state report, which only included figures from police agencies that serve populations greater than 100,000, found that robbery was the fastest growing crime in California, with an increase of 16.2% over the first half of 1989. Murder was next, with a 9.6% increase. Rape followed with a 7.6% jump. And assaults grew by 4.9%

But because there was a drop in the huge number of thefts, overall crime statewide was down 0.7% over last year.

The Los Angeles Police Department reported a 0.2% decrease over 1989. And the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department logged a 3.7% increase.

Final numbers for the year will be released by the FBI in the summer of 1991.