Cranbourne North gradfather Rick Maaskant, was attacked with a pitchfork during a home invasion Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui There were 125 offences recorded, more than double the 2015 figure. Security companies in the area have reported a surge in demand in the past six months. Residents are having distress buttons installed, paying for private street patrols, and inquiring about having their puppies trained as guard dogs. "These are just general, normal people who are afraid to be in their own home," said Frank Sottile, owner of Prowatch Security.

Cranbourne is one of the fastest-growing suburbs in Australia. Credit:Wayne Taylor He told The Age that the distress buttons were linked to a monitored control room, similar to those installed in banks and other businesses, and that some people decided to wear them as a pendant. Mr Sottile sold key ring alarms to a Cranbourne North couple who were woken one night by someone trying to break into their car. The couple said they could not sleep after the incident, and have moved, equipping their new home with a network of CCTV cameras. The husband said there were four people in a Holden Commodore and others in a service vehicle, possibly a panel van, wearing balaclavas

"After I gave them a bit of a mouthful, I went inside and I couldn't find everything in the house to defend myself with," he said. "As I shut the door they just took off screeching down the road. "Until we moved we weren't sleeping at all, we'd wake up with any little noise, I slept with one eye open." New housing estates with a scattering of properties are perceived as problem crime areas. Nigel Fitton, director of TMP Security in Fountain Gate, said a woman contacted him recently on behalf of a group of residents who wanted a roving guard in a new estate in Officer.

And Shelley Hansen, a Narre Warren dog trainer, said she had fielded several requests to train puppies as "watch dogs". Police suspect that youths breaking into houses to steal keys, and then cars, are behind the increase. The south-east was one of the first regions hit by the phenomenon of young men or teenagers spending their nights joyriding in stolen cars and robbing houses in roaming sprees they call "missioning". Police call it youth network offending.

Inspector Mick Daly, from southern metro region, said aggravated burglaries were particularly prevalent in February and September last year. He said police had a strong focus on reducing that type of offending, and on improving the support offered to victims. "Our intelligence shows us that the large majority of aggravated burglaries that occur are non-violent," Inspector Daly said. "Despite that, we recognise that these incidents have a significant impact on victims." Police Minister Lisa Neville admitted on Thursday there was some way to go before Victorians felt safe in their homes.

That may be especially true in those suburbs blighted with more than three times as many aggravated burglaries as were recorded five years ago. Aggravated burglaries reported in Cranbourne last year include an incident in July when a man wielding a knife kicked down the front door of a house in Highview Avenue. He confronted the family, including two young children, in a bedroom before being chased out of the house. Three weeks later, car keys were stolen during a home invasion in Cranbourne North, and the alleged crooks then stole the car.

Police saw the stolen vehicle in Dandenong South later that day, and the offender crashed into a power pole while trying to flee, before attempting to run away. On Wednesday night, Cranbourne North grandfather Rick Maaskant was attacked with a pitchfork during a home invasion. Speaking to The Age on Thursday he gave a chilling account of the assault. "When I opened the bedroom door, three guys were there ... in the hall. "I was standing there, paralysed ... "

He tried to argue and fight them with his bare hands but was hit in the head with the pitchfork and began to bleed heavily. He thinks the sight of blood scared them off – as they left without stealing anything. Mr Maaskant said he had been a victim of crime before, with five of his cars, including a luxury vehicle worth $40,000, stolen in two months at the end of 2016.