Right now, there's a good deal of soul-searching going on at Dallas City Hall.

"We're all waiting on the police chief's report," said Elba Garcia, chairwoman of the City Council's Public Safety Committee. "We want to know if there are lessons to be learned."

Aside, she means, from the obvious lessons: If you're a cop, don't yell at a pleading motorist with the camera rolling. And don't wait until you're threatened with job termination to admit you were wrong.

That said, at least two intriguing questions have surfaced in the dreadful wake of Dallas police Officer Robert Powell's infamous traffic stop: Should a cop, especially a young one, be compelled to patrol alone?

And are police officers being pressured to write more traffic tickets these days?

Some astute observers raised those issues after seeing Powell's televised meltdown, which was caught on the officer's in-dash camera.

The concern about single-officer patrols extends beyond Powell's admittedly poor judgment in the way he dealt with Ryan Moats, the NFL running back whom Powell blocked from visiting his dying mother-in-law.

Many police officers, acutely aware of how quickly a routine traffic stop can escalate into something more dangerous, would rather have someone riding with them at all times.

But increasingly, larger police forces such as Dallas' are leaning much more heavily on single patrols, except in targeted high-crime areas that may pose more immediate risks.

The thinking is simple: More marked cars on the street mean more visibility, which helps to deter crime and boost public confidence.

"If you have two officers per car, you cover half as much territory and you miss 50 percent of what's going on," said Ryan Evans, the first assistant city manager of Dallas who oversees public safety.

Ideally, said Glenn White, president of the Dallas Police Association, the department would be able to consistently partner senior officers with junior officers – a move that would add a layer of security for the patrol officers and better prepare less-seasoned cops for the nitty-gritty streets.

But White knows that's not realistic in a city struggling financially and practically to hire and train enough officers.

So new recruits come out of the academy, spend six months in field training and "a couple of months" riding with a senior officer – "then they're on their own," White said.

"In a perfect world, we'd have 6,000 cops in Dallas," White said. "And that's never going to happen."

The department has nearly 3,000 sworn officers and 556 civilians covering 1.2 million residents spread out over 384 square miles. That's a vast landscape, which makes it all the more difficult for cops to flex their muscles, and all the more tempting for cities to send cops out alone.

In years past, Dallas used more two-officer patrols. But that was mainly because the city didn't have enough patrol cars in which to put individual officers, Evans said.

"I could put four officers in a car and cover a fourth of the city that we now cover," he said. "But the extra cars on the street are a much better deterrent than having another officer next to you."

It's a popular approach, to be sure. Even smaller departments such as Plano's 363-member force rely on single patrols to increase police visibility and reduce response time.

"Our beats are designed so that at least two officers are never too far apart," said Plano police spokesman Rick McDonald. "So our officers aren't alone too long."

Both White and Evans said Dallas officers are generally well-trained and also are quick to respond to another officer's call for backup.

Would a second officer have helped Powell maintain better control of the Moats traffic stop?

"Having a second set of eyes and a second set of ears probably could have been helpful," White said. And yet, even with a Plano officer on the scene, Powell didn't adjust fast enough.

"It was just a case of bad judgment," White said.

Evans and Garcia said in-dash cameras provide an extra layer of security and accountability for the officers and for residents.

But White said City Hall is unwilling to acknowledge or tackle another issue that may very well have prevented Powell from putting his citation book down.

"They want us to write tickets," White said, adding that young officers succumb to the internal pressure more than veteran cops – and that Powell was known to be quite proficient at it.

Garcia defended the department, saying she doubts officers are directed to write more tickets.

"I hope that's not true," she said. "I hope that our officers are fair to our citizens."