Kanye West is choosing a different, and more peaceful, way to deal with photographers ... instead of grabbing and throwing their cameras, he's taking his beef straight to law enforcement.
TMZ obtained these photos of Ye strolling into the L.A. County Sheriff's West Hollywood Station Tuesday afternoon ... and our law enforcement sources tell us he was there informing deputies he'd gotten into an argument with paparazzi.
We're told his story is ... he'd asked paps to stop recording him and his family at some point on Tuesday ... and the interaction almost turned physical, but he says it did not escalate to violence.
Ye left the station after filing the report, and we're told the Sheriff's Dept. is now looking into the matter to see if there's anything more to the alleged argument.
It's a new, calmer approach, for sure -- as we first told you, Ye is the named suspect in a battery investigation over a heated exchange with a photog last month. That one did get physical as he reached into the woman's car, grabbed her phone and tossed it away.