It means that a lot of incidents get just one officer responding, without backup. With multiple officers, you have a higher probability of being able to subdue a guy without needing to use deadly force.
If I was a lone officer facing a crackhead with a crowbar, my attitude would be "Screw this, my priority is getting home tonight unharmed. He either drops the crowbar when ordered, or I empty my magazine into him".
Absolutely. It’s certainly become clear to me after watching a lot of badge-cam videos that officers should be patrolling in buddy teams and we should almost never have officers attempting to arrest suspects alone.
A lone officer approaching even a lone unarmed suspect is just asking to end up in a wrestling match for his gun if the suspect is so inclined.