It’s a family business at the 109th Precinct.
Officer Leo Charbrut has spent most of his 31 years on the force at the Flushing command, and now his rookie son, Justin, also works there.
The elder Charbrut, 61, is the traffic safety officer and works the day shift. His contact with Justin, 27, who works patrol, is limited to the brief time when he’s packing up for the day and his son is arriving for the 4 p.m. to midnight shift.
Still, the two talk often – son asking dad for advice about his specialty, filling out accident reports and working to drive down vehicular and pedestrian deaths, dad asking his son computer-related questions.
“One hand washes the other,” the father says in his typically understated fashion.
The son, equally reserved, says he loves the job’s variety.
“Every day is enjoyable,” he said. “You don’t know what you’re going to encounter and that makes it more enjoyable.
Justin said he remembers visiting the precinct as a kid and asking his dad about his day at work, though Leo Charbrut said he made sure not to pressure his son to join the force.
“He chooses his own path,” Leo said. “He wanted to become a cop.”
Theoretically, a third Charbrut, Michael, 23, who has less than a year on the force and works overnight as an Operation Impact officer in a different Queens command, could wind up in the 109th Precinct.
Leo also has two daughters. One’s a nurse. But the other, Jessica, 14, has been talking about joining the club.
Capt. Tommy Ng, the precinct’s second-in-command, says the father, the most senior officer there, is an expert and what he does and his attention to detail is sure to rub off on Justin.
“It’s a pretty cool thing,” he said. “I’ve never seen it. I’ve seen a husband and wife, but never a father and son in the same command.”
The NYPD said such an arrangement is not unprecedented – and is not discouraged – so long as the family members work different shifts.
That’s a rule that appears to date to the 1973 ambush shooting of two brothers — officers Carlo and Vincent Imperato of the Brownsville’s 73rd Precinct — as they approached a car they suspected was about to be stolen.
Two gunman opened fire, striking Carlo in the shoulder and his brother in the arm.
Vincent Imperato managed to squeeze off two shots as Carlo drove their bullet-ridden patrol car to Brookdale Hospital.
Vincent, 73, lives on Staten Island, Carlo, 69, who lives in New Jersey, told the News he had asked his supervisors to let his brother work with him when he transferred into the precinct so he could show him the ropes in the tough neighborhood.
The shooting is never far from his thoughts, he said.
“We were just lucky, really,” he said. “It wasn’t our time to go. But I think often about it.
“It’s something you don’t forget.”
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