A former state corrections officer fired earlier this year for refusing a random vehicle search is claiming the policy violates the U.S. Constitution.

Brian True, a former corrections officer at the Lincoln Correctional Center, said in a federal lawsuit the search policy violated his constitutional rights to privacy and equal protection under the law. He is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial in the lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Lincoln.

True, a corporal at the Correctional Center, was fired in June after he refused to let prison staff search his vehicle on the prison parking lot. Staff requested the search April 13. True, a 12-year employee, was suspended a short time later. He was terminated June 28.

In an interview one day after the termination, True said the department had a right to search vehicles parked on prison lots, provided officials had a reasonable suspicion to do so.

But, he said, the department’s search policy was unconstitutional because staff randomly selected vehicles for searches.

Department officials said at the time that the random searches of employee vehicles were part of a longstanding policy to keep contraband out of the prisons.

“It’s a way for us to control what’s going on in our facilities,” a spokesman said.

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