The most obvious difference between the KZP and the earlier series was the addition of a fiberglass fairing, to which the front pursuit lights and windshield were mounted. The fairing also has two covered pockets for storage of small items. Due to the unique shape of the fairing, this has become the most identifiable police-service motorcycle design in the world. Earlier Kawasaki police motorcycles had a windshield with a shape similar to that found on the older
Harley-Davidson Electra Glide motorcycle, then popular with law enforcement. The C-series borrowed features from the American police motorcycles with which it was designed to compete. These included a spring-cushioned saddle, and a
speedometer equipped with a solenoid to trap the indicator needle against the glass when the pursuit lights were activated, to mark the speed at which a lawbreaker was traveling at the time. Both of these features were eliminated in the KZP, which was equipped with a standard speedometer and
tachometer. The engine was updated in 1981 from the Z1 type with a displacement of 1015 cc to the "J model" type with a displacement of 998 cc. Although similar in appearance not all parts are interchangeable between the two types. Mechanically, there were few changes within the series. The KZP has over 95% parts compatibility across the entire production run, and in fact the throttle twist assembly, which holds the switches for the pursuit lights and siren, kept the "M" position used by the C-series to lock the speedometer needle despite the P-series having a tachometer in place of the second speedometer. Despite this, the pin and wire for the "M" position are missing on the P-Series, so while the P-series throttle twist assembly will plug into the C-series harness and work just fine, the functionality for locking the second speedometer is lost when using the P-series throttle twist assembly on a C-series bike. There is no loss of functionality in the other direction, but the "M" position wire has no function on the P-series regardless of which model's throttle twist assembly is used. Another major change was in 2002, when the chain size was changed from 630 to 530, saving weight and increasing acceleration. The most obvious change in the P-series was the introduction of
LED lighting in 2003. ==Production run and specifications==