``I had to start assigning people,'' said Ken Blessing, a veteran patrol officer whose job was to make sure there were enough officers at the Hospice House Woodside, where Schiavo died Thursday.

``It went from everyone volunteering to forcing people to work because we couldn't fill the spots,'' Blessing said.

``Everybody was tired, and there was a lot of stress with the whole situation,'' Blessing said. ``I think it came from dealing with the hours we were working and the people out there.''

The Pinellas sheriff's detention deputies who waited at the hospice to transport trespassing demonstrators to jail also found it taxing, their supervisor said.

Detention deputies found it particularly galling that one man remained in the throng as his 10-year-old son offered himself up as one of more than 50 symbolic, orchestrated arrests. They also didn't like being given the Nazi salute, said Sgt. Eric Campbell said.

Then there was the uncertainty of the assignment: ``At what point are they going to storm the front door en masse?'' Campbell said.

At some points, there were up to 20 Pinellas Park police officers - or one-fifth of its force of 100 sworn personnel - at the hospice, Blessing said.

Capt. Sanfield Forseth said the hospice paid for four of the officers as hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside. The city had to make up the difference.

Forseth said the agency tried to keep costs down by having officers who normally work inside the police station help with hospice security. Even so, others had to be paid overtime, with a couple earning as much as 80 hours' overtime during the two-week period, Blessing said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 823-3303.