Representatives of the National Indian Gaming Commission spent Thursday inspecting the Soboba Casino, tribal council member Rose Salgado said.

The one-day visit started in the morning and was expected to take most of the day, Salgado said, adding the inspectors spent most of their time behind the scenes reviewing policies and guidelines of casino operations at the facility near San Jacinto.

A spokesman for the federal Indian gaming regulatory agency described the inspection as the kind of "periodic site visit" commission representatives make routinely to Indian casinos across the country. Indian casinos are regulated by three layers of government: federal, state and tribal.

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Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff made a request last week that the National Indian Gaming Commission shut down Soboba Casino, calling the reservation unsafe because the tribe requires deputies to stop and check in with tribal security guards before entering the reservation for nonemergency calls.

The visit comes one week after Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff asked the commission to shut down the casino, calling the reservation unsafe because the tribe requires deputies to stop and check in with tribal security guards before entering on nonemergency calls.

The tribe and the Sheriff's Department have been locked in a dispute since three tribal members were killed in shootouts with deputies in May on the reservation.

The commission has the power to close a casino for safety reasons, although Commission Chairman Phil Hogen has said it has done so only a few times in its 20-year existence. Hogen didn't recall any cases similar to the Soboba situation.

Hogen confirmed that he received Sniff's request last week and said he was trying to gather further information about the sheriff's concerns.

Hogen said via e-mail last week that "while the safety of those engaged in the gaming is an ongoing concern, law enforcement access and the exercise of jurisdiction beyond the gaming premises may be issues outside the scope of NIGC's authority."

Tribal Chairman Robert "Bobby" Salgado said previously the inspection was in response to a request he made earlier this summer following the fatal shootings in May. He has said he welcomed the visit, and the tribe had nothing to hide.

Salgado said he asked the commission to send people from its headquarters in Washington, D.C., but the inspectors Thursday were from the Sacramento office.

Reach Jose Arballo at 951-368-9280 or jarballo@PE.com

Reach Michelle DeArmond at 951-368-9441 or mdearmond@PE.com