ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The Florida city where neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin is changing the rules on how civilian patrols can operate to help prevent a recurrence and revive the program's reputation. 
 
 The new rules, to be released at a community meeting on November 5 in Sanford, Florida, will state explicitly that residents acting under the authority of neighborhood watch may not carry a firearm or pursue someone they deem suspicious. 
 
 "Neighborhood watch was always intended to be a program where you observe what is going on and report it to police. In light of everything that has gone on, that's what we're really going to go back and push. That's what this program is and that's all it is," said Shannon Cordingly, spokeswoman for the Sanford Police Department. 
 
 Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, was acquitted in July in the February 2012 death of Martin. 
 
 The prosecution accused him of racially profiling Martin, a high school student visiting from Miami, and then pursuing, confronting and shooting him. 
 
 The jury considered Zimmerman's self-defense claim in light of Florida's Stand Your Ground law, which rescinded the duty of citizens to try to retreat from a confrontation. 
 
 "People in the community are nervous to join a group (neighborhood watch) that was tarnished in the media and got a bad image with everything that happened. We really want to put those fears to rest and get the community going on the program," Cordingly said. 
 
 Neighborhood watch was formally organized in 1972 under the National Sheriffs' Association. 
 
 It began as a response to the notorious 1964 murder of Catherine Susan "Kitty" Genovese, whose cries for help as she was attacked outside her Queens apartment were ignored by dozens of neighbors. One was famously quoted as saying she didn't want to get involved. 
 
 Today's neighborhood groups often are untrained and unsupervised by police, vary in their dedication to the job, and remain unregistered with either the sheriffs' association or local police agencies. 
 
 In 2011, when Zimmerman organized a watch group in his gated neighborhood, Sanford police offered a handbook and a presentation by a police volunteer explaining the role of the group in helping deter crime. 
 
 Sanford's new rules are laid out in a more detailed handbook and will require neighborhood watch groups to undergo training, register members with the police department and regularly update their status with the department, Cordingly said. 
 
 The neighborhood watch program will be overseen by the department's new full-time three-officer community relations unit, she said. 
 
 Cordingly said the police department for the first time will map out the locations and keep track of neighborhood watch groups. 
 
 She said any neighborhood watch member who violates the rules, including carrying a weapon, will face removal from the program but will not be charged with a crime. 
 
 Martin's family in April settled their wrongful death claim for Trayvon's death against The Retreat at Twin Lakes subdivision for what was reportedly at least $1 million. 
 
 ( This story has been corrected to fix date of Martin's death in 4th paragraph to February 2012 from July 2012)) 
 
 (Reporting by Barbara Liston, editing by Jane Sutton and Gunna Dickson) ||||| The soon-to-be ex-wife of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman acquitted in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, discovered a used marksman target riddled with 17 bullet holes nailed to the wall of the home the estranged couple once shared, after he was forced to move out. 
 
 RadarOnline.com has exclusively obtained the menacing photo provided to police which shows what Shellie Zimmerman and her parents uncovered inside the study at their Lake Mary, Fla., home. 
 
 EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: George Zimmerman Left Bullet-Riddled Marksman Target For Estranged Wife — Nailed To The Wall 
 
 The last person inside the building was said to be 30-year-old sharpshooter George, who had been dramatically asked to collect his belongings and leave, RadarOnline.com has been told. 
 
 “This is the photo that Shellie sent to her lawyer and said, ‘Look at the subliminal message George left me,’ following their showdown in September,” a source with intimate knowledge of the situation revealed. 
 
 “What else could a bullet-riddled marksman’s target mean?” 
 
 Charged another source: “It’s really not that subliminal. A not-so subtle message, I think. It was clearly a threat.” 
 
 PHOTOS: Celebs Who Have Done Jail Time 
 
 “Did George feel so threatened by Shellie talking to the media about her marriage to George?” the source questioned. 
 
 “Did he feel threatened that she didn’t stick to the playbook of refusing to talk after Trayvon? Or was this George’s way of telling Shellie to stick to the omertà? Or was it something more serious? 
 
 “George really has some explaining to do.” 
 
 Police said this week no charges would be laid against the exonerated killer over a domestic incident in which he supposedly waved a gun around, which came just days after now foe Shellie filed divorce papers. 
 
 PHOTOS: Aerial Images Of The Zimmerman Family Altercation 
 
 George had allegedly punched her father in the nose and threatened to shoot him and Shellie. 
 
 In divorce papers, she said she had separated from her husband in August because of the strain of the trial, a month after he was acquitted in the 2012 fatal shooting death of Martin, 17. 
 
 The not guilty verdicts in the second-degree murder and manslaughter trial stunned the nation. 
 
 “Shellie’s mother went over to the home — she owns it with her husband — immediately after George moved out,” a source said. 
 
 PHOTOS: Crowds Gather In NYC And Florida For A Hoodie Candlelight Vigil For Trayvon Martin 
 
 “As she has reported to police, some of the items in the home were taken, including furniture, and it was trashed. She did not know by whom, but of course the family suspects George. 
 
 “At the time, Shellie was in New York, appearing on the TODAY show. 
 
 “What Shellie’s mom didn’t notice was the target. Then, when Shellie got home, she went over to the house and discovered the target with bullet holes in various quadrants. 
 
 “There it was… tacked up on the wall of their home office, right between the garage and the kitchen where the domestic incident took place.” 
 
 PHOTOS: Celebs Involved In Murder 
 
 As for whether the dirty tricks target could have been left by someone else, the source told Radar: “It was not there when Shellie left, only when George moved out. He’s the only person who could have left it. Only he, Shellie and Shellie’s parents had keys.” 
 
 Shellie’s lawyer Kelly Sims said he would not comment on the target when reached by RadarOnline.com.
– After George Zimmerman was forced to move out of his house last month, his soon-to-be-ex-wife Shellie found something ominous nailed to the wall: A shooting range target sporting 17 bullet holes, according to a report in Radar. A source sent Radar a photo of the target, saying it was the same photo "that Shellie sent to her lawyer and said, 'Look at the subliminal message George left me." Another source remarked, "It's really not that subliminal." Zimmerman's case continues to reverberate in Sanford, Florida. Police there announced yesterday that its neighborhood watch volunteers would no longer be allowed to carry guns or pursue suspicious individuals, Reuters reports. "Neighborhood watch was always intended to be a program where you observe what is going on and report it to police," a department spokeswoman explained, adding that "people in the community are nervous to join a group that was tarnished in the media and got a bad image with everything that happened."