It's the Sanford Police Department's handy dandy manual ... and Zimmerman wouldn't have been attacked had he heeded that advice.
Zimmerman reported what he saw followed the person until the dispatcher advised him not too. Sanford has one of the highest crime rates in America I would want to know where a stranger was going if I lived there and he was in the area I lived in.
Reports said there had been a "rash" of burglaries in the complex. 8 (or 9) burglaries in a little more than a year is one of the highest rates in America?
When he made that call, he was at the clubhouse area. He also told the dispatcher he'd meet the officers near the mailboxes, which is at the entrance to the complex, near the clubhouse as well. Sure, he said "ok" when the dispatcher told him not to follow, but he didn't heed that advice as the incident didn't happen there, but about 2/10 of a mile away, off street, in the middle of a grassy courtyard bisecting two long rows of apartment buildings.