ability to clearly check all of these people that they were hiring and bringing in to ensure the safety of the public. >> reporter: if anyone had checked robertson's background, they would have found a lengthy criminal history and he was still on probation for a felony. instead, he was made a supervisor. we are in mississippi here to talk to the local sheriff. several weeks before this incident, sheriff mike bird said he met with local security about why bp was not doing background checks on beach cleanup workers. >> i asked them directly, are y'all doing criminal histories and criminal background checks on these people? and his answer reply was no, we're not. and i said you're kidding me. he said, no. there's so many of them, we were told to do drug screens and that was it. and i said well that's not good at all. >> but you actually recommended that they get criminal background checks on their employees? >> yes, we did. and i told them that we would do