Romeo might still be alive if he had not crashed a masquerade ball, met Juliet and fallen in love. And look what happened last week to Tareq and Michaele Salahi, who crashed President Obama’s first state dinner. The infamous couple who opened their private lives to criticism and ridicule now face public condemnation.

It doesn’t pay to party crash. Or, does it?

“Assuming we’re not talking about something more sinister, most crashers simply want to be able to say they did it, and to get close to celebrities and bask in that reflected glory,” stated Lisa Hurley, editor of Special Events magazine, based in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

“This certainly seems to be the case with the Salahi incident, though it seems they are also trying to make it pay!” said Hurley, in an e-mail interview. “When the movie ‘Wedding Crashers’ came out in 2005, we saw a spate of people trying to crash any old wedding, but that trend has faded. Thank goodness!”

For now.

The Washington incident has focused renewed interest not only on the crashers, their motivation and the security breach that allowed it, but on the phenomenon of event crashing in general.

Amid the public debate, one sentiment rings true.

“Their internal substance is more a vacuum than it is anything else,” said Donna Levin, professor of psychology at Hilbert College. “What is going on inside people who feel the need to do those kinds of things? Their day-to-day lives are missing something critical. They don’t stop to smell the roses, that every day can be wonderful.”

Anatomy of a crasher

Who knows what motivates people to trespass beyond the velvet rope? Levin chalked it up to a theory called social comparison.

“We define ourselves by the people we spend time with,” she said. “People want to be around people two rungs above them on the social ladder. It makes them feel good. Our culture is inundated with exterior symbols that are supposed to reflect who we are, a poor substitute for an internalized sense of self.”

What is so appealing about partying with a group of strangers?

“In order to feel good about ourselves, we associate with the winning team, the winning party, with people who make more than us and who live in better communities,” answered Levin. “It’s stealing their light.”

In order to succeed at crashing most events, deception is involved. Whether it’s walking in with a group of smokers or forging an engraved invitation, lying often plays a major role.

“Party crashers have to know how to lie,” Levin explained. “You have to be able to fabricate stories. Most people actually are not good liars, and that’s good. People who feel guilty and blush when they lie keep our society healthy.”

Let’s say the party crasher is caught. With his back against the security fence, what will he do?

“If they’re really good, they will continue to lie,” Levin said. “Really good liars have enough truth within their lies to be very convincing. Their stories are compelling. They also get a lot of attention in the process. It’s a very sad commentary on humanity, that people need to invent completely alternative lives.”

Don’t ruin the fun

The holiday season is party season, and locally at least some hosts have better things to do than to worry about crashers.

“If I stood around and worried about people crashing my party, it probably wouldn’t be fun anymore,” said developer Carl Paladino, whose annual holiday bash draws about 1,000 people to Ellicott Square. “Sometimes people tell me they crashed my party, and I say, ‘OK.’

“I assume there are others who crashed the party who assume some need to be there,” said Paladino. “It isn’t that I’m inviting the whole world to come to our party. We do have an invitation list.”

Paladino articulated the golden rule of crashing: Entitlement. Crashers believe they have a right to attend the event, that their presence will elevate it. They also feel the need to document their presence in photographs or on videotape.

“It becomes their badge of honor, to be able to do something like this,” said Levin. “They don’t look at the rudeness of it or the impropriety. It becomes their notoriety.”

Party hostess and professional photographer Nancy J. Parisi throws a Red Dinner party each February. She also has crashed some events in her day, including a corporate party tossed by Nike at a warehouse in Manhattan. What hastened her entry? On this occasion, Parisi’s party garb included a Nike T-shirt.

“Being funny and persuasive also helped,” Parisi said. “You have to have a good intent. I felt entitled, like I really needed to be in the party. Plus, the party would benefit from me being there, and you have to be dressed right, obviously. The must successful crashing of all is when no one realizes you are crashing.”

Securing the premises

In February 2007 at Ryan Miller’s Catwalk for Charity fundraiser held at the Statler, a handful of women crashed the event, walking into the room of 700 revelers and successfully blending into the crowd.

“Some venues offer better security,” said event planner Therese Forton-Barnes, who since then has relocated Catwalk to Town Ballroom. “My registration crew checks in people at the door, and identification or a ticket is needed. My fear is someone copying the ticket. That’s why scanners are used so much today.”

The more glam the guest list, noted magazine editor Hurley, the more tempting a target the event will be for some people. In a sports town like Buffalo, professional hockey players are stars.

Ed Cotter, a Buffalo police detective and owner of Shamrock Security, handles security for a number of local events including Catwalk and the American Red Cross Mash Bash fundraiser in early June.

“If someone says he lost his ticket or invitation, and his name is not on the list, you get the event planner, and they make the final call,” said Cotter. “Once you determine he doesn’t belong, you politely ask them to leave the building. If they don’t, explain the charges they may face.”

In the City of Buffalo, the charge would be trespassing, a violation punishable by a fine and/or 15 days in jail.

“Only if you ask them to leave and they return would the charge be elevated to criminal misdemeanor status, and still you would be stretching,” said Cotter.

Security professionals interviewed by Hurley for a report on party crashing recommended a layered approach with identification required at various points throughout the event. Events with only one checkpoint, they said, are vulnerable.

“Every link in the security chain must have a clear understanding of proper procedures,” Hurley said via e-mail. “No security checkpoint staffer can assume that problems will be dealt with by someone else down the line.”

The bottom line is simple, according to Cotter.

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” he said. “It’s just trying to figure out where is the lapse in security. What’s the easiest way to get in? Most of the time, it’s the front door.”