Sec. 12. PENSIONS TO WIDOW AND DEPENDENTS.  If any member of the Police Department, who has been retired on allowance because of length of service or disability, shall thereafter die from any cause whatsoever or shall die from any cause whatsoever after he has become entitled to an allowance or pension certificate, or if while in service any member shall die from any cause growing out of or in consequence of the performance of his duty, and shall leave surviving a widow, a child or children under the age of eighteen (18) years or a dependent parent, said Board shall order paid a monthly allowance as follows:  (a) To the widow so long as she remains a widow, sixty per cent (60%) of the pension per month that said member would have received if living and had retired with twenty-five (25) years of service, provided she shall have married such member prior to his retirement;  (b) to the guardian of each child the sum of Six Dollars ($6) per month until such child reaches the age of eighteen (18) years or marries;  (c) to the dependent parent, only in case no widow is entitled to allowance, the sum the widow would have received to be paid to but one parent and such parent to be determined by the Pension Board, and (d) in the event the widow dies after being entitled to her allowance as herein provided, or in the event there be no widow or dependent parent to receive such allowance, then the amount to be paid to the guardian of any dependent minor child or children under the age of eighteen (18) years shall be increased to the sum of Twelve Dollars ($12) per month for each said dependent minor child;  and provided that such minor child under eighteen (18) years of age is unmarried.  Allowance or benefits payable to any minor child shall cease when such child becomes eighteen (18) years of age or marries.
If a member of this Pension System is killed while performing his official duties, or dies from injuries received while performing such duties, the same benefits payable under the provisions of this Act to Pension System members who hold a pension certificate and have attained fifty-five (55) years of age, shall be paid to the persons designated in this Section.
Sec. 13. DEATH FROM NATURAL CAUSES OR CAUSES NOT COVERED.  If a member of this Pension System dies from natural causes or from any cause not covered under the provisions of this Act, the Pension Board shall pay to his estate all of the exact amount of money he has heretofore paid into the Pension System Fund in lieu of any other benefit provided for herein.
Sec. 14. RETIREMENT FOR DISABILITY.  Any member of this Pension System who becomes incapacitated for performance of his duty by reason of any bodily injury received in, or illness caused by the performance of his duty, shall be retired upon presentation to the Pension Board of proof of the disability, and shall receive a retirement allowance equal to the percentage of his disability;  for example, if he is fifty per cent (50%) incapacitated, he shall receive fifty per cent (50%) of the amount he would receive if retired after completion of twenty-five (25) years service per month during the remainder of his life or so long as he remains incapacitated.  Provided, however, that if, at that time, he is qualified as to age and service for retirement, he shall receive the full amount of pension per month, or in the event he is past fifty-five (55) years of age and has more service than the minimum of twenty-five (25) years, and becomes incapacitated he shall receive the full amount of pension per month plus One Dollar ($1) for each additional year as his service bonus.  When any member has been retired for permanent, total or partial disability, he shall be subject at all times to re-examination by the Pension Board and shall submit himself to such further examination as the Pension Board may require.  If any member shall refuse to submit himself to any such examination, the Pension Board may, within its discretion, order said payment stopped.  If a member who has been retired under the provisions of this Section should thereafter recover, so that in the opinion of the Pension Board he is able to perform the usual and customary duties formerly handled by him for said city in the Police Department, and such member is reinstated or tendered reinstatement to the position he held at the time of his retirement, then the Pension Board shall order such pension payment stopped.  No person shall be retired either for total or partial disability unless there shall be filed with the Pension Board an application for pension benefit, at which time the Pension Board shall have him examined by no fewer than three (3) physicians, to be chosen by the Pension Board and to make their report to the Pension Board.  If a policeman is hurt while working on a regular shift or tour of duty, or if he is at home or some other place and an emergency arises wherein he has to perform the official duties of a policeman and is injured, he shall receive the benefits of this Act.  In all cases where a policeman seeks benefits under this Section, it shall be the duty of the Pension Board to determine if the policeman did receive his injuries in the performance of his duty.
Sec. 15. COMPUTATION OF PERIOD OF SERVICE.  In computing the twenty-five (25) years of service required for a retirement pension, twenty-five (25) years of continuous service shall be required;  provided, however, that in case of interruption of less than two (2) years, credit shall be given for previous service if out of service more than two (2) years;  no service prior to said interruption shall be counted, other than provided in Section 21.
Sec. 16. LEAVING EMPLOYMENT BEFORE BECOMING ELIGIBLE.  When any member of such Pension System shall leave the employment of such Police Department except as specifically provided for herein, either voluntarily or involuntarily, before becoming eligible for a retirement or disability pension, he shall cease to be a member of such Pension System.  When a member has left the service of the city Police Department as aforesaid and has therefore ceased to be a member of such Pension System, if such person shall thereafter be re-employed by the city Police Department he shall thereupon be reinstated as a member of such Pension System provided he is in good physical and mental condition as evidenced by a written certificate executed under oath by a duly licensed and practicing physician or physicians in the city, satisfactory to the Pension Board.  Prior service of such member with such city Police Department shall not be counted toward his retirement pension unless such member returns to the service within two (2) years from his separation therefrom, and also shall, within six (6) months after his re-employment by the city in the Police Department, make a written application to the Pension Board for reinstatement in the Pension System.
Sec. 17. TRANSFERS FROM OTHER CITY DEPARTMENTS.  No prior credit shall be allowed for service to any person who may hereafter transfer from some other department in the city to the Police Department.  Policemen now serving who have heretofore transferred from some other city department may be given credit for such prior service by the Pension Board.  The prior-service credits shall all be granted within sixty (60) days after this Act becomes law.  For example, if one is transferred from some other department of the city to the city Police Department, sixty-one (61) days after this Act becomes law, such person's service will be computed only from the day he enters the city Police Department.
Sec. 18. GIFTS AND DONATIONS.  The Police Officers' Pension System may accept gifts and donations and such gifts or donations shall be added to the Pension Fund for the use of such System.
Sec. 19. LEGAL MATTERS.  The city attorney of such city shall handle all legal matters for the Pension System which are referred to him by the Pension Board or city without additional compensation therefor.  The Pension Board may, however, employ an attorney, or attorneys, to handle its legal matters and shall pay reasonable compensation therefor out of said Pension System Fund.
Sec. 20. EXEMPTION FROM LEGAL PROCESS;  ASSIGNMENT OR TRANSFER.  No portion of any such Pension System Fund, either before or after its order of disbursement by said Pension Board, and no amounts due or to become due any beneficiary or pensioner, under this Act, shall ever be held, seized, taken, subjected to, detained, or levied upon by virtue of any execution, attachment, garnishment, injunction, or other writ, and no order or decree, and no process or proceedings whatsoever, shall issue out of or by any court of this State for the payment of satisfaction, in whole or in part, out of said Pension System Fund, of any debt, damage, claim, demand, or judgment against any such members, pensioners, dependents, or any person whomsoever, nor shall such Pension System Fund or any part thereof, or any claim thereto, be directly or indirectly assigned or transferred.  Any attempt to transfer or assign the same or any part thereof or any claim thereto shall be void.  Said funds shall be sacredly held, kept, and disbursed for the purposes provided by this Act, and for no other purpose whatsoever.
Sec. 21. MILITARY SERVICE.  Members of the Pension System engaged in active military service required because of a National Emergency shall not be required to make the monthly payments into the Pension System Fund provided for in this Act, nor shall they lose any previous years of service with the Police Department caused by such military service.  Such military service shall count as continuous service in the Police Department, provided that when the member is discharged from the military service he shall immediately return to his former duties with the city Police Department.  The city, however, shall be required to make its regular monthly payments into the Pension System Fund on each member while he is so engaged in such military service.  In the event of death of a member of this Pension System, either directly or indirectly caused from such military service, his widow or dependent parent or other dependents shall not be entitled to receive any benefits from this Fund.
Sec. 22. CIVIL ACTIONS.  The Pension Board of any city as herein created and constituted shall have the power and authority to recover by civil action from any offending party, or from his bondsmen, if any, any moneys paid out or obtained from said Pension Fund through fraud, misrepresentation, theft, embezzlement, or misapplication, and may institute, conduct and maintain such action in the name of said Board for the use and benefit of such Fund.
Sec. 23. PARTIAL INVALIDITY.  If any provision, section, part, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or paragraph of this Act be declared invalid or unconstitutional, the same shall not affect any other portion or provision hereof, and all other provisions shall remain valid and unaffected by such invalid portion, if any.
Sec. 24. FORMER EMPLOYEES NOW RECEIVING PENSION.  Immediately upon this Act becoming a law, the former employees of any such Police Department who are now being paid a pension from a pension fund, shall hereafter be paid a monthly pension of One Hundred Dollars ($100) per month out of the Pension Fund provided for herein.  Any such city shall have the right and option to pay such former employees any amount over and above those hereinabove provided for, but such additional payments, if any, shall be borne by such city and not the Pension Fund.
Sec. 25. ELECTION;  ADOPTION WITHOUT ELECTION.  The city is authorized to call an election to determine if the city desires to adopt this Act after a petition has been presented to the governing body of the city, signed by five per cent (5%) of the qualified voters of the city who voted in the last municipal election.  Such election must be advertised by publication in at least one (1) newspaper of general circulation in said city once each week for four (4) consecutive weeks.  The question shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the city at a special election to be held for such purpose at which all ballots shall have printed thereon:
"FOR:  The proposed Police Pension System."
"AGAINST:  The proposed Police Pension System."
No other issues shall be joined with the proposition submitted at this election on the same ballot except as provided in Subsection (f), Section 3 of this Act.
Nothing herein is to prevent the city governing body from adopting the proposed pension plan without an election.
Sec. 26. WITHDRAWAL OF MONEYS;  RETURN ON REINSTATEMENT.  Any policeman who has been relieved from duty or voluntarily quits shall have the right to withdraw all moneys paid in by him into the Pension System.  If he is reinstated in the Police Department with full seniority, he shall return to the Pension Fund the amount of money previously withdrawn when his services were terminated.