SAN JACINTO, Calif. – The Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians’ dispute with a local sheriff over access to Indian land appears to have led to some negative public reaction after the sheriff’s claims that the reservation was unsafe and then followed by criminal incidents at the reservation.
Despite a longstanding tradition, a local school district canceled classroom visits to the tribe’s pow wow in September, citing safety concerns. It was the latest sign that the Soboba’s public image may be deteriorating among local residents.
“The school buses were ordered and we were all set, but after discussing it with our local police chief we decided to cancel,” said Dennis Bixler, director of student support for the San Jacinto Unified School District. “It was certainly not something we wanted to do.”
The district’s concerns stemmed from two separate incidents at the 3,172-acre reservation that allegedly involved tribal members arrested for violent crimes. Riverside County Sheriff’s Department deputies entered the reservation and made the arrests, according to news releases.
(Two other tribal members were arrested on the reservation Sept. 24 for their alleged involvement in a vehicle pursuit and drive-by shooting, according to a sheriff’s department press release.)
No incidents were reported during the three-day pow wow, and attendance did not suffer, said Mike Hiles, Soboba’s public information officer. Hiles attended the pow wow and said “thousands” showed up.
The string of bad developments for the Soboba began in July, when Riverside County Sheriff Stanley Sniff wrote to the National Indian Gaming Commission requesting that Soboba’s gaming operations be halted over safety concerns. Sniff’s request came after protesting Soboba Chairman Robert Salgado’s policy of having deputies check in with tribal security before entering the reservation for nonemergency calls. In the letter, the sheriff said Salgado was obstructing deputies, who are required to enforce state law.
Public Law 280, an increasingly controversial termination-era law, gives criminal jurisdiction to non-Indian law enforcement in some states. The Soboba hosted an open forum in August to discuss the adequacy of the law.
Salgado has said he is not prohibiting deputies from entering the reservation, but trying to monitor deputies after three tribal members died in shootouts with deputies in May.
Since Sniff’s request in July, the citizens casino watchdog group Stand Up for California has asked California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for an investigation of the tribe’s casino for allegedly breaching its 1999 compact that prohibits gaming in a manner that endangers public, according to its director, Cheryl Schmit.
And the National Sand Drag Association, an Arizona racing organization, has pulled out its races from the reservation because of safety concerns, according to reports in area newspapers.
According to Sniff, crime statistics indicate the reservation has a disproportionately higher rate of crime when compared to nearby communities.
The reservation leads its two neighboring communities that are serviced by deputies in four crime types, according to statistics provided by the sheriff’s department. They include 14.55 aggravated assault crimes per 1,000 people in 2007 at the reservation, compared to 4.27 and 4.63 in unincorporated Hemet and San Jacinto, respectively.
Hiles declined to comment on the claims, saying he did not have authorization, and tribal officials could not be reached.