This Harley-Davidson police nameplate first appears in the company’s 1996 police-model literature, where it was listed alongside other law-enforcement variants and identified as the Road King-based police motorcycle. From the beginning, it was positioned as a factory-built duty machine rather than a civilian trim, aimed at police and fleet use. The model kept the familiar Road King touring look while serving as Harley-Davidson’s dedicated law-enforcement cruiser.
Over the years, Harley-Davidson continued to reference the same nameplate in later police-model manuals, parts documents, and VIN tables, showing a continuous presence in the police lineup rather than a one-off special edition. In modern documentation it is still identified as the Police Road King, indicating that the nameplate has remained part of Harley-Davidson’s long-running police motorcycle family. Its significance comes from that continuity: it is one of the company’s best-known law-enforcement touring models and a longstanding part of Harley-Davidson’s big-twin police heritage.