Soboba leader wants members to get police training

The chairman of the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians wants tribal members to receive state law-enforcement training so that they can patrol the reservation instead of Riverside County sheriff’s deputies, whom the tribe has clashed with in recent months, a tribal spokesman said.

Chairman Robert Salgado Sr. plans to send several tribal security officers to qualify for California Police Officer Standards and Training certification, a requirement for deputies, police and other law enforcement officers, said tribal information officer Mike Hiles.

Salgado could not be reached for comment this morning.

Tribal security forces, who are unarmed, are not required to have state certification to patrol the reservation and respond to misdemeanor infractions.

A Riverside County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman could not be reached for comment this morning about Salgado’s proposal.

Salgado first mentioned his plan during a panel discussion Monday night in San Jacinto called to address mounting tensions between the tribe and sheriff’s deputies concerning federal Public Law 280, which gives state authorities the right to enforce law on Indian land.

Riverside County Sheriff Stanley Sniff has said his deputies need to be able to enter the reservation to investigate and serve warrants without identifying themselves and their specific destination. He says crime rates on the reservation last year were triple that of surrounding cities.

Earlier this month, the state corrections department ordered all parolees to leave the reservation because it believed the area was unsafe for officers to enter. In May, three tribal members armed with assault rifles were killed in gunfights with deputies, some of whom were shot at as they patrolled the area in a helicopter.

Tribal members have routinely stopped sheriff’s deputies at the gates of the reservation in recent months, despite the threat of arrest and possible closure of the Soboba Casino.

Tribal legal experts and leaders say Public Law 280 does not apply to reservation land, which they compare to a private ranch. Salgado and others have said sheriff’s deputies need a warrant or permission to enter the reservation, and that Sheriff’s Department officials have overstated crime on the reservation.

“The chairman’s position is that they can’t just come on and patrol the reservation,” because such patrols violate tribal sovereignty, Hiles said. “It’s a matter of civil rights.”

Several sheriff’s departments in the state cross-deputize tribal members. In northern California, Humboldt County Undersheriff Michael Downey said his office began cross-deputizing members of the Hoopa tribe in the mid- to late 1990s, making it one of the first offices to do so. Such deputies are held to the same training and ethical standards as non-tribal deputies, he said, and are considered reserve officers.

Carole Goldberg, a UCLA law school professor who specializes in tribal law and spoke at Monday’s panel, said cross-deputization has been “rare” in California because of the state official’s strict interpretation of Public Law 280. Cross-deputization, however, is common in other states, such as Minnesota, Washington and Wisconsin, where state officials even provide incentives for local law enforcement to cross-deputize tribal members.

Legislation before Congress would grant federal money and other incentives to promote such efforts.

“Typically, these agreements are made to provide more effective service to reservation communities,” Goldberg said, adding that cross-deputization increases the number of available officers and aids investigations.

“If you have more knowledgeable people providing the police service to the community, they are going to understand the culture better and the tribal authorities better and will potentially be more trusted, which contributes to better policing,” she said.

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com