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These 11 cases have fueled outrage, heightened racial tensions and instigated protests around the nation. In some of the cases, the police offered an explanation for their actions, but raw videos led many to conclude that the police actions were unjustified.

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In settlements, police departments and cities rarely admit wrongdoing, said Joanna Schwartz, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who is an expert on police misconduct litigation. “Almost every settlement agreement states that there’s not an admission of fault,” she said.

For the public, however, a large settlement is a clear signal that a city recognizes that something very wrong happened, Mr. Dunn said. “I don’t think any police department in the country pays out millions,” he said, “if they think they have done the right thing.”

“But it’s a mistake to equate settlement with police reform,” he added.

In many large cities, the settlements do not even come out of the police department’s budget. In New York, for example, payments are made from the city’s general funds, insulating the agency against any real consequences, said Gabriel P. Harvis, a civil rights lawyer and former lawyer for the city.

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Four of these cases, including last week’s fatal shooting of a black man in Baton Rouge, La., prompted the Justice Department to open civil rights investigations. In Baltimore and Chicago, the department opened broader investigations into the practices of the Police Departments.

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