9-925. Computation of pension upon voluntary retirement or upon mandatory retirement; limitation

A. A member of the police department whose membership began prior to July 1, 1952 and who serves the department twenty years in the aggregate may, upon application, be retired, and shall be paid during his lifetime a monthly pension equal to fifty per cent of the average monthly compensation received by him during the period of five years immediately prior to the date of application for retirement. A member of the police department whose membership begins on or after July 1, 1952, and who serves the department twenty-five years in the aggregate may, upon application made after he has reached the age of fifty-five years, be retired, and shall be paid during his lifetime a monthly pension equal to fifty per cent of the average monthly compensation received by him during the period of five years immediately prior to the date of application for retirement.

B. In the case of a member of the police department continuing in active service after the date when he is eligible to make application for retirement under the provisions of this section, upon his retirement the percentage of his average monthly compensation applicable in computing his monthly pension shall be increased by two per cent for each full year of service beyond the date when he was eligible to make application for retirement, but in no case shall the percentage of his average monthly compensation applicable in computing his monthly pension exceed sixty per cent. In the absence of an application for retirement by a member eligible to make application under the provisions of this section, the board may, when it deems such action to be for the best interests of the department, on its own motion propose any such member for retirement, and upon certification of the city or town physician that the member is physically unfit for further police service he shall be retired, and shall thereafter receive the pension prescribed in this section. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the governing body of a municipality from setting a mandatory retirement age by ordinance to be applicable to persons eligible for pensions under this article.