$7 Billion Disconnect: FirstNet Aims to Get First Responders Talking 12 Years After 9/11: After 11 years and billions of homeland-security dollars spent since 9/11, Winchester’s plight remains maddeningly common. With radio systems set up town by town, county by county and state by state — sometimes even department by department — America’s police and fire departments are still awash in a sea of networks and frequencies that often can’t communicate with each other.