By Deborah Quinn Hensel

HOUSTON, February17 (Reuters) - In the wake of community outcries over a video showing police beating a 15-year-old African American burglary suspect, Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland on Thursday defended his department and called for an end to "grandstanding" and heated rhetoric.

"If we mess up, we're going to fess up and we're going to clean up," he said at a press conference. "I'm not going to stick my head in the sand."

At recent town hall meetings, residents of the nation's fourth-largest city have questioned why police violence continues to be a recurring problem, with highly publicized cases of abuse dating back decades. Activists and lawmakers have sought a federal investigation, which is now under way.

"This is not a one-incident crisis," Bishop James Dixon II of Faith Community Church said during a town hall meeting on Tuesday. "This happens all the time in our city."

McClelland said he has zero-tolerance for misuse of power by officers and the department acted swiftly to investigate and discipline the officers. "There was no cover-up," he said.

Because of heightened emotions in the community, police officers are experiencing an increase in harassment and assaults, McClelland said. He said it is unfair that the inappropriate actions of a few officers are tainting the entire department.

"It does not reflect the heart and soul of 5,300 other officers who put on the uniform every night and are doing their best to keep the city safe," he said.

A 2010 community survey by the department showed that 47.9 percent of African Americans were satisfied that police treat people equally regardless of race, compared to 69 percent of whites and 64.6 percent of Hispanics.

McClelland, a 33-year- police veteran who is African American, said he has "been wearing out a lot of shoe leather," reaching out to community leaders to help calm emotions.

McClelland defended the department's hiring process and training of officers, which includes ethics, diversity, decision-making and handling stressful situations. But, he added, police officers are human beings.

"People come to this job with baggage, with all of the defects and ills that society may have," he said.

Seven officers were fired after the department obtained a video of eight officers beating and kicking teenage burglary suspect Chad Holley last March. McClelland said he gave the FBI a copy of the tape last spring.

"Any time I catch an employee of this organization going over the line, and especially acting criminally, I'm going to fire you," he said.

Houston is not the only city grappling with allegations of police brutality that have fueled tensions between police and residents of color. In Seattle, a white police officer faces possible disciplinary action for shooting a Native American woodcarver, and the Justice Department has opened a preliminary review into whether there has been a pattern of misconduct by Seattle police.

(Additional reporting by Elaine Porterfield; Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Greg McCune)