Residents in Meridian will soon see new police cars as they go through their day-to-day lives.

The Meridian Police Department recently purchased seven new 2019 Dodge Chargers to add to its fleet. In total, the department has eight new cars since one of the cars was already in the fleet.

The cars, which cost a total of about $175,000, were paid for with drug seizure money, said MPD Capt. John Griffith

The department is phasing out the Ford Taurus in favor of the Dodge Chargers, which can accommodate the technology now available in police cars, Griffith said. 

“We’re in the process of phasing the out old ones because we’ve got a lot of new equipment,” he said.

Griffith said the Chargers will be all black and driven by department supervisors. Eventually, the department’s patrol cars will be replaced with Chargers, but those cars will be painted black and white. Previously, shift supervisors drove white cars.

The new color schemes will help the public recognize who is in charge at a crime scene or patrolling in the community, Griffith said. 

Griffith said police cars usually last up between six to 10 years.