A corrections officer fired this week for refusing a vehicle search said he is considering legal action against the state Department of Correctional Services.

Brian True, a corporal at the Lincoln Correctional Center, said corrections officials notified him Thursday he had been fired. The 12-year LCC employee was suspended in April for refusing to let staff search his vehicle on the prison parking lot.

He maintained Friday that such searches are unconstitutional and said that, even if they are legal, his punishment for refusing the search was excessive.

“Progressive discipline should be employed,” he said. “The department wanted to make an example out of me, and that’s exactly what this is.”

True said he will meet with his attorney next week to discuss how to proceed.

Diane Sabatka-Rine, the LCC warden, said the department could not comment on the firing because it is a personnel matter.

Department officials said earlier that random searches of employee vehicles on prison parking lots were part of a longstanding, general policy to keep contraband out of the prisons.

“It’s a way for us to control what’s going on in our facilities,” department spokesman Steve King said earlier this year.

True refused to let staff search his vehicle April 13 and was suspended without pay a short time later. He had consented to the searches twice before, although he told staff each time he was doing so under duress.

A department investigation began shortly after the suspension, culminating Thursday with True’s termination.

True said he does not deny the department has the right to search vehicles, if it has reasonable suspicion to do so. A search policy based on randomness, he argues, violates the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

“‘Reasonable suspicion’ or ‘just cause’ are not mentioned in the policy,” he said.

The state Ombudsman’s Office, in a letter to the Correctional Services director, said “a reasonable argument can be made” for the legality of the search policy. The Ombudsman’s Office suggested the department take steps to ensure the searches are truly random, however.

Department officials could not be reached Friday for comment on the recommendation.

Reach Clarence Mabin at 473-7234 or cmabin@journalstar.com.