When Wiscasset Police Chief Troy Cline used the department’s new cruiser under snowy conditions last month, the 2015 Ford Interceptor sport utility vehicle, with all-wheel drive, drove like it was on dry pavement, Cline said.

That and other features add to safety, and start to bring Wiscasset’s two-vehicle fleet into the era Cline said law enforcement is going with transportation, to the SUV.

From now on, Cline expects the department to only get SUVs.

On Jan. 26, after a 2008 cruiser’s expected repair cost surpassed the car’s value, Cline asked selectmen for the Interceptor. They agreed 4-1 to spend $36,000 from contingency on it.

It’s been in limited use since it arrived from Massachusetts weeks ago with a mileage in the hundreds. Now it has all the markings; it entered full-service on Monday, Cline said in the town office parking lot Monday morning.

It’s got lights in the traditional places for a cruiser and elsewhere, all to add to visibility. Some of the lights were able to be reused from the last cruiser, Cline said.

The SUV’s rear space includes a weapons drawer that locks. And the back seat windows have bars, which will prevent anyone from smashing the windows, as happened a while back with a window on another cruiser, Cline said.

He and Sgt. Alfred “Willy” Simmons are the SUV’s primary drivers. However, when weather conditions warrant, other officers will drive it, Cline said.