The vehicles now sport an all-black color scheme, a change from the more traditional black with white doors design.

The idea to redesign the look of the vehicles came from a couple of officers a few months ago, FDPD Public Information Officer Capt. Ryan Gruenberg said.

“At that point, we got some ideas put together and kind of were passing around different schemes to see what people thought of them,” he said.

The group eventually came up with three design finalists and had officers and department staff vote on their favorite design.

“We’ve had a few people in the public, you know, say that they really like the look,” Gruenberg said. “They’re a lot more sleek-looking.”

The previous design used by the department included white vinyl covering the doors.

“(The vehicles) come from the factory all black,” Gruenberg said. “So for us to have the white and black color scheme, we had to wrap the doors in white vinyl and then put the black lettering on top of that.”

Because the new design omits the white vinyl wrapping, it is expected to save some money going forward, he added.

The redesign only affected the aesthetic of the vehicles and didn’t change any of the equipment or locations of lights, Gruenberg said.

“This is just kind of a facelift of the exterior,” he said.

The new look of the police vehicles also includes a special sticker decal on the passenger side of the rear windshield to honor the late Rev. Al Henderson. Prior to his October 2019 death, Henderson served as the department’s chaplain.

“It’s kind of to symbolize him always being in the passenger seat, riding with us,” Gruenberg said.

Optic Ink, of Fort Dodge, is doing the vinyl decal installation for the new design.

In February, the Fort Dodge City Council voted to purchase three new police vehicles from Fort Dodge Ford Lincoln Toyota for a total of $95,346. The new vehicles have replaced three older, high mileage vehicles.

The vehicles are Ford Police Interceptor Utility Vehicles, which are essentially the law enforcement version of the Ford Explorer.

Two of the new vehicles are on the road, while the third is still being built.