In addition, public safety is potentially at risk with offenders being charged at the front counter, the same area the public use to access police services.

In response to questions from the Examiner, Port Stephens Commander, Superintendent Haggett said working conditions were not ideal and conceded a new station would be the way to go.

It followed recent information obtained by the Examiner that 24 officers operating out of the station were forced to share the one shower cubicle and travel as far as Maitland to have offenders processed.

The result is that police are losing more than two hours in transit.

"Something needs to be done sooner rather than later," he said.

"Certainly the shower situation needs to be addressed and having the charging area at the front counter is not ideal either.

Superintendent Haggett said police would not need to process offenders at Maitland once the new police headquarters was built at Raymond Terrace.

"I would love it if [Port Stephens] council identified a block of land and said 'have it, build a police station here'."

"We could sell this station and use the money to build the new one."

However Port Stephens MP Craig Baumann warned that proceeds of the sale of land on the corner of Government Road and Church Street could potentially go back into government coffers, leaving the Port LAC short changed.

"We saw it with Mayfield police station and we could see it here.

"I imagine the sale of the Nelson Bay Police site would generate quite a bit of revenue, however the majority of that could just end up back in the hands of the NSW Government, which has no money, and Port Stephens police would be left with little."

Mr Baumann moved a motion in Parliament last week, acknowledging the current conditions officers worked under and calling for the NSW Government to upgrade or rebuild the station.

He said an ideal location for a new police station could easily be identified.

"They risk their lives on duty and it's not fair that they be treated as second class citizens," he said.

"There is still that parcel of land on the corner of Gan Gan Road that would be ideal.

"It would provide faster access to Salamander Bay and Soldiers Point and if the Fingal Bay link ever gets completed it would provide much quicker access there too.

"The fact of the matter is something needs to be done."