Community policing is a paradigm shift established as a bedrock for community partnership in creating a safe and secure environment. It is policing whereby the people take an active part in their own security affairs; the police is not seen as stranger whose presence potends danger but as partners in development and those members of the community are co-producers of justice and quality police service. This indicates the need for involving the community, the local government, and the police to work together to tackle crime, especially in rural communities. One rationale for community involvement in policing is the belief that police alone can neither create nor maintain safe communities as the number of police is not adequate and also, not evenly distributed to the communities. This paper provides justifications for community policing in order to prevent and manage crimes. The paper, therefore, examines the origin of community policing, community policing in Nigeria, the role of community policing for crime prevention, benefits of community policing and the barriers or challenges of implementing effective community policing. Conclusion and recommendations are made based on existing framework presented in this paper.