A solemn tradition: Bagpiper explains role when an officer falls in line of duty

YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) -- For law enforcement in America, the arrival of the bagpiper is never a good sign.

Jamie Miller, a retired Springettsbury Township police officer, knows that well. He was called to play the bagpipes in February after Officer Andrew Duarte died while responding to a hospital shooting in York County. And he was called again Wednesday night, when three police officers were killed while responding to a domestic-related investigation in the county.

Both times, he was asked to play "Danny Boy."

"It goes all the way back to World War One when the Scots and Irish would be piped into battle, and they would have a piper pipe their fallen into the grave," Miller said.

Many of these soldiers immigrated to the United States, where they became police officers and firefighte