Qualcomm, Leap donate cell phones, service to police

Qualcomm Inc. donated 200 cellular phones to the San Diego Police Department, and Leap Wireless will provide two years of free service for them, Mayor Jerry Sanders announced Thursday.

Sanders said the donation will help maintain public safety at a time of budget cuts.

“This is a tremendous act of corporate citizenship,” Sanders said in a statement. “I applaud Qualcomm and Leap for stepping up at a time when San Diego, like every other big city in the nation, is struggling with plummeting tax revenues.”

Qualcomm and Leap made the donation after learning the SDPD was dropping 200 mobile phone accounts from its budget to save $300,000, according to the mayor’s office.