He was the public face of the Plymouth Police Department, speaking for it when crimes were committed or suspects charged. He promoted the department on its Facebook page and organized searches when someone went missing.
Captain Jason Higgins was the voice of the Plymouth police — until he was not.
Higgins was in and out of work over the summer. People wondered what had become of him. Neither town nor police officials would say. His paychecks stopped at the end of September, and he didn’t respond to emails.
Last month, the answer became somewhat clear.
In mid-December he filed an application for an accidental disability pension — which, if approved, would pay him 72 percent of his salary, mostly tax-free.
In the largely redacted document, Higgins – the department’s head of professional standards and the chairman of the committee that hands out awards to other officers – said he could no longer perform the duties of his stressful job. He cited multiple traumatic episodes stretching back to his earliest years on the force.
Higgins, 49, a key command staff member, rose through the ranks since joining the department in 1997. He was involved in most of the department’s significant cases and activities during his tenure, winning numerous awards for saving lives and solving crimes. He was also responsible for imposing discipline on officers who violated the rules, a role that sometimes strained his relationships with co-workers.
In a written statement, Higgins said it has been his honor to serve Plymouth for decades – ever since he was a teenager working as a Plymouth Beach police officer.
“I have handled everything that this town could throw at me over my career,” he wrote. “I’m grateful that I was put in positions where I was truly able to help people.”
He described his co-workers as “some of the finest people that anyone could ask to work with. The department is in great hands with the current command staff.”
Police Chief Dana Flynn said he would defer comment until the town retirement board acts on Higgins’s retirement request.
“The retirement process initiated by Captain Higgins is ongoing between he and the retirement board, and as such I cannot comment on it at this time,” he said in a written statement.
Select Board member Kevin Canty thanked Higgins for his years of “dedicated service to Plymouth.”
“He was always a pleasure to work with and you could tell from his work that he really cared about our community. He was an asset that will not be easily replaced. We wish him all the best going forward,” Canty said in an email.
Qualifying for an accidental disability pension is not easy. An applicant who claims he or she was injured on the job must undergo several medical exams in a process that can take nine months or longer, according to a Plymouth Retirement Board official.
In the meantime, Higgins is getting “injured on duty” pay — equal to his base salary — until his application is approved or rejected. Those payments started in early December.
It’s unclear exactly how much he will receive. His base pay in fiscal year ’24 was $136,016 a year and $153,016 a year in fiscal year ‘23, according to town payroll records. (His total pay in both years was considerably higher because of overtime and other compensation.)
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.