Clark County School District’s top cop replaced

Police Chief Phil Arroyo is no longer leading the Clark County School District's police force.

Capt. James Ketsaa has been named acting chief, district spokesman Michael Rodriguez confirmed Monday. Arroyo is still employed by the district, Rodriguez said, adding that he couldn't comment on the details of the situation because it was a personnel issue.

Arroyo became school police chief in February 2008, after serving as a captain for three years.

His history as the district's top cop has had its controversies.

In January, Superintendent Dwight Jones promised a full internal review of the district's investigation into allegations that an employee had engaged in lewd behavior on the Internet and was not disciplined or properly investigated by school police.

Utah's Iron County sheriff's office expressed frustration that a district employee was still on the job a year after the department submitted a case against him to school police. The case dates to January 2010, when Iron County investigators staged an Internet sting to snare child sex predators.

According to the Utah police report, a man contacted a decoy who was pretending to be a 13-year-old girl, engaged in lewd chat room exchanges and sent images of himself masturbating. Utah authorities determined that the man was using a Clark County School District computer and telephone.

Because of a jurisdictional issue, the case was turned over to the district's school police in March.

Arroyo initially said the criminal investigation was the responsibility of a federal agency he could not name. Almost a week later, the school district announced in a statement that school police had thoroughly investigated the allegations and had submitted the case to the Clark County district attorney's office.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger, however, denied that a written case had ever been submitted.

Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.