Riverside County Sheriff Stanley Sniff said Sunday he does not want to arrest security officers or tribal leaders who have been delaying his deputies as they attempt to enter the Soboba reservation and worries that such confrontations could escalate into violence.

Sniff said the restrictions implemented by the leadership of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians could lead to conflicts at the security booth near the entrance to the reservation, because law enforcement officers for other agencies have the right to arrest anyone who impedes them. Given the recent history of violence on the reservation, Sniff said, the situation easily could escalate.

"There is a bottleneck there that has a lot of potential for problems," Sniff said in an interview at a conference room in the sheriff's administrative building. On a nearby table, a large picture showed the reservation east of San Jacinto, including tags showing the sites of several recent shootings. The security booth is located a short distance from the casino's parking lot.

The Sheriff's Department has been in a dispute with the tribe to gain better access to the reservation. Deputies now are stopped at a guard shack where they must provide identification and the purpose of their visit to tribal law enforcement before they are allowed to proceed.

Tribal Chairman Robert Salgado Sr. has said he wants to make sure deputies on the reservation go to the right place, don't interfere with other tribal members and provide written documentation verifying they are deputies and the nature of their business. His security guards have accompanied deputies on all their visits to the reservation in recent weeks, he said.

The Sheriff's Department said the tribal policy prevents deputies from doing their work in a timely manner and potentially puts them or others at risk by allowing suspects to get a heads-up on the deputies' business.

Sniff said Sunday that the dispute is not just between the tribe and his agency, because the policy -- which does not apply at other Indian reservations in the county -- also covers other law enforcement agencies, such as the California Highway Patrol, local police departments, probation and parole agents and investigators with district attorney's offices. The Morongo tribe has a contract with the agency for law enforcement services.

Salgado could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Tribal council member Rose Salgado said Sunday that some of the conflict could be attributed to inaccurate media reports and different views of the same events. For example, she said, tribal security simply wants to know if the deputies serving an arrest warrant know where they are going, not the specific address.

She said the tribe does not want patrols of the reservation, but has no objection to deputies doing follow-up investigations of burglaries and other crimes.

Sniff said the department does not have the staff levels to patrol the reservation, but that his agency has the "legal and moral" authority to enforce the law without restrictions.

Sniff said the rhetoric has become more inflammatory, as it did after the shootings by deputies in May that left three tribal members dead. In comments last week at a Board of Supervisors meeting, Sniff called on the National Indian Gaming Commission to shut down the tribe's casino because of the security issue. Salgado responded by calling a news conference, where he criticized Sniff and defended his new policies.

"This is not personal," Sniff insisted. "It is business only."

Sniff said he has not called for a change in tribal leadership -- Supervisor Jeff Stone and John Tavaglione have said Salgado should be replaced -- and believes he can work with the current tribal council.

Whoever is elected to lead the tribe, Sniff said, "is none of the sheriff or Sheriff's Department's business."

The problem is the difference of opinion on a federal law known as Public Law 280. The law allows state or local law enforcement agencies to enforce state law on Indian reservations in California and a few other states.

The tribe will be visited this week by federal commissioners in what Salgado has described as a meeting that was not prompted by Sniff's concerns.