>> 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 pass a gu la, mississippi, here to talk to the local sheriff. several weeks before this incident sheriff mike byrd said he met with bp's local head of security about why bp was not doing back ground checks. >> i asked him directly, i said are you all doing criminal histories and background checks on these people and his answer, reply was no. they're not. i said you're kidding me. he said, no, there's so many of them we were told to do drug screen and that was it. >> i said that's not good at all. >> you actually recommended they get criminal background checks on their employees. >> yes, we did. and i told them that we would do that for them. do the background checks for them and they said no.