ST. LOUIS - There are big changes for a group most may not realize is even there, even though its been making the St. Louis area safer for nearly 20 years. 

A legendary crime fighter passed the torch at the St. Louis Regional Crime Commission. 

A lot of people around St. Louis may know this phone number by heart: 866-371-(TIPS), the number for CrimeStoppers.

Decades ago, there was no such number. There was no CrimeStoppers. But now, things are progressing so that 20, 30, 40 years from now, there still will be.

St. Louis set a record in 1993 for murders in the city, which totaled to 267. That number is still a motivating factor for Ed Dowd, the man former President Bill Clinton named U.S. Attorney for St. Louis at the time. 

“My top priority was to work with local prosecutors, local police, all of the federal agencies, probation, parole, teachers, everybody to try and stop murders and violent crime in general,” Dowd told FOX 2. 

After going into private practice, he founded the St. Louis Regional Crime Commission in 2006. It funds violence prevention efforts, derelict building demolition, and most notably, CrimeStoppers, the anonymous tip program that pays cash rewards to solve homicides and other crimes across the St. Louis region in Missouri and Illinois. 

“We started this organization, and we started CrimeStoppers, where we’ve got a ton of tips over the years,” Dowd said. “We’ve been doing this for 18 years. I’ve never known the identity of any person that gave us crucial information.”

Only about half of the tipsters ever claim the reward, he added.

CrimeStoppers has taken nearly 40,000 tips in 18 years, with more than 700 cash awards approved, more than $383,000 paid out, and more than 40 homicide cases cleared.

“That tells me that there are people out here that really want to do the right thing,” former St. Louis Judge and City of St. Louis Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards said.

Edwards is the commission’s new board chairman, replacing St. Louis attorney Mark Boba, the former Chief Legal Officer for Anheuser-Busch.

“We all have the same hope, and that hope is for a safer region... the crime commission is just a small part of asking on behalf of victims, asking the community on behalf of police officers, and asking the community on behalf of our families and our friends,” Edwards said.

James Whyte, head of the Central West End Neighborhood Security Initiative, will replace Dowd as commission president. Dowd will remain on the commission board.

“I think it’s a total winner for St. Louis,” Dowd said.

The commission is funded through corporate and private donations along with occasional government grants.