Before the military went to 9mm, back in the 70's the local Air Police from Fairchild AFB used to use a hollow-based wadcutter round in their 38 special revolvers. It was a 158gr. hollow-based wadcutter over 3.5 gr of Reddot (thats what I remember) I remember shooting them with my Colt Trooper and they were very accurate rounds, I figured they would open up to about 45 caliber. It was like looking into funnel. Of course it wouldn't be all that great against armor or a car door but on a typical human torso I would think it would be devastating. I've never been in law enforcement but I've always felt that shot placement counted more than anything else, being able to hit what you shoot at should count for something and this load was very comfortable for my wife to shoot in her little Chief's Special. Better than some high zoot +P load that had her scared to practice.
Of course what I forgot to mention was that the wadcutters were loaded backwards with the hollow-base pointing out.