RIVERSIDE – The head of the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians Wednesday decried claims that his security officers have been obstructing Riverside County's sheriff deputies, and said he and Sheriff Stan Sniff see federal law differently.

“This isn't the 1800s when the Calvary came,” tribal Chairman Robert Salgado said.

When sheriff's deputies come on the reservation, tribal security guards merely want to know where they are going and why, Salgado said, adding that deputies have no right to patrol sovereign tribal land at will.

He said the tribe's casino was safe and that members of the public had nothing to fear.

The sheriff told the county Board of Supervisor's Tuesday that he had written to the National Indian Gaming Commission, asking that it suspend the tribe's gaming license.

“My recommendation was for them to suspend the license unless – and until – the sheriff's department has free and unrestricted access” to the reservation, Sniff said.

Sniff said the tribe had a “history of violence and a propensity to violence.”

Salgado said he and the sheriff interpret the federal law that applies to local law enforcement differently. He said he understood that deputies should be allowed unrestricted access to the reservation in the case of an emergency. But, in the case of routine business, sheriff's deputies should at least tell to tribal authorities where they are going and why. The reservation covers about 6,000 acres.

A forum is scheduled for Aug. 11, during which a discussion is to take place about the issues surrounding Public Law 280, which turned over law enforcement duties to local governments in 1953.

Sniff said last week that he understood 280 to give sheriff's deputies unrestricted access to the reservation. Permission from the tribe is not necessary to enter at any time, he said.