The Great Bend Police Department recently purchased six new patrol cars, Lt. Bill Browne said. The Chevrolet Caprices will replace the oldest Dodge Chargers in the fleet.

"We’ve had a lot of people wanting to know why the cars aren’t marked," Browne said. With the black-and-white paint scheme it isn’t hard to recognize the police cars, especially with the light bars affixed to the roofs, but GBPD decals will be added to all of the cars over the next two weeks.

Quite a bit of work goes into stripping the equipment and push bumper from a retired car and installing everything on a new one. After that, the car goes to Mark’s Custom Signs in Great Bend for the decal work. The cars will have the same decal scheme that was used on the Chargers, Browne said, although there will be some adjustment to fit the change in body styles.

After years of driving Ford Crown Victorias, the GBPD switched to Dodges about four years ago. Bids for new cars are taken every year.

The Caprices were purchased from the low bidder, Dove Chevrolet Buick Cadillac in Great Bend.