A handful of Gainesville police officers will be enjoying that new car smell as the department introduces its new batch of patrol vehicles this week.

Complete with revamped graphic designs and some high-tech bells and whistles, the department is rolling out five new Chevrolet Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicles on Gainesville streets. The cars are replacing Ford’s discontinued Crown Victoria, once the standard model for police vehicles.

Five more Caprices are expected to join the fleet later this year as part of the department’s vehicle replacement program. That program switches out older, high-mileage vehicles with new ones carrying more advanced tools.

In addition to the new model, upgraded equipment has been added to the new vehicles including a wireless platform that can help officers complete reports quicker, without as much reliance on radio communication. The new cars also come with a digital video camera that feeds into an outside server. That feature allows the department to record police activity without storing files of VHS tapes or DVDs as has been done with previous models.

Gainesville Police Chief Brian Kelly said the Caprice model and the added equipment were chosen with an eye toward offering officers advanced tools to provide public safety, while considering budget restraints.

“I want to ensure I’m able to obtain equipment for our officers at a fiscally responsible cost,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to have technology to keep up with the times in order to serve and protect the community.”

The base price for the vehicles is $27,543, according to department spokesman Kevin Hollbrook. Once the car is made “police ready” with communication gear, light bars, department markings, suspect enclosure equipment and other gadgets, that total price goes to $43,658.

Kelly said some of the technical equipment, part of a move toward a “wireless, paperless department,” will inevitably save on personnel time previously spent retrieving records and video.

This year’s replacement of 10 vehicles follows last year’s replacement of three.

The department typically replaces vehicles as they reach the 160,000- to 180,000-mile threshold. Driving in police work is typically thought to bring a lot of extra wear-and-tear to those vehicles.

The new vehicles and some old ones also feature a new graphic design bearing the department’s name. The vehicles maintain the same black and white colors, with gray “Gainesville Police” lettering.