They will attend major events, such as carols by candlelight on Christmas Eve

Squad will form part of the critical incident response team and will patrol 24/7

Elite police squad in Melbourne will patrol streets armed with submachine guns

A highly trained elite squad armed with submachine guns will take to Melbourne's streets during the Christmas period.

The new squad are part of the critical incident response team, who will be patrolling popular areas in fear of terror attacks.

Officers will be equipped with tasers, semi automatic and sub machine guns as they patrol 24/7.

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A highly trained elite squad armed with submachine guns (pictured) will take to Melbourne's streets during the Christmas period

Officers will be equipped with tasers, semi automatic and sub machine guns as they patrol 24/7

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp believes the heavy weaponry is necessary.

'If their lives are in danger or the lives of the people they're protecting are in danger, then they can use lethal force,' Mr Crisp said, 7 News reports.

The elite squad will attend major events, such as Melbourne's carols by candlelight on Christmas Eve, and the upcoming Australian Open.

The elite squad will attend major events, such as Melbourne's carols by candlelight on Christmas Eve, and the upcoming Australian Open

Professor Spencer Zikchak from Liberty Victoria said the heavy weaponry was 'troubling'

But the public are unsure about police patrolling the streets armed with the extreme guns.

'I'm just troubled about the possibility of civilian deaths as a result of officers using machine guns,' Professor Spencer Zikchak from Liberty Victoria said.

But Deputy Commissioner Crisp said the weapons were 'not just about terrorism'.

'This is about high risk incidents and it's about timing,' he said.

'I'm confident if we can respond to incidents in a few minutes, as opposed to 10 minutes, then we will save lives.'