The tearful widow of an NYPD cop killed by friendly fire in February told The Post on Wednesday that the department must address “trigger-happy’’ officers — after similar tragedy this week.

“I just can’t believe it happened again,’’ said Leanne Simonsen, whose detective-husband Brian Simonsen was accidentally killed by fellow cops during a chaotic Queens robbery Feb. 12 — nearly eight months before Bronx Officer Brian Mulkeen was slain by friendly fire Sunday.

“I know things happen in seconds,’’ she said in an exclusive interview. “But there’s gotta be some way that you clear your guys before you just start firing.’’

The 45-year-old widow broke down at times recalling her hero husband.

“Let me just start with, it’s the perp’s fault no matter what. I’m not blaming the NYPD, she said of friendly-fire tragedies. “But do I feel like [police brass] need to do something. Training? Absolutely.”

Simonsen’s 42-year-old husband died in a flurry of 42 police bullets during the robbery of a T-Mobile store by a masked man who pulled a fake gun on responding officers. The suspect survived being shot eight times.

“I mean, 42 shots to me is insane,’’ Leanne said. “And it just baffles me. Why? Why so many?

“I don’t know the answer, but it’s almost like a trigger-happy thing. It’s almost like, once you hear one officer fire, you all start firing. It’s almost like a reaction. You just start shooting.

“So was it that? Did they want to be the hero?”

Leanne, who was married to Brian for six years, said hearing that Mulkeen died from friendly fire “just kind of brought me right back to Day One.

“My heart breaks for his family because I know exactly what they’re going through,’’ she said.

Mulkeen, 33, was struggling with an armed suspect in a public-housing project when his gun went off, prompting five of his NYPD comrades to unleash a total of 10 shots. The former college track-and-field star was hit twice. The suspect also died.

The officer’s funeral is set for Friday in upstate Orange County, where he grew up.

Leanne Simonsen said of her husband’s death: “I almost I feel like it’s worse for me — not that anything would make it better — but I almost feel like it was worse for me that it was friendly fire.”

The way the NYPD handled her husband’s death has only added to her pain, Leanne said.

“I feel like I’ve never really gotten an apology and no explanation and no ‘this is what we’re going to try to different.’ I think something needs to be done, especially after Brian Mulkeen,’’ she said.

Police sources have told The Post a new training video was distributed to cops after Brian Simonsen’s death but that it simply rehashed existing policy about “knowing where your partner is, knowing where other officers are,’’ a source said — adding, “But you can’t always know.’’

An NYPD source said Wednesday that after Detective Simonsen was killed, all uniformed cops were ordered to take “an enhanced one-day training course focused on the response to critical incidents.’’

The department released a series of short training videos for all officers, the source said.

Now, after Mulkeen’s death, “all [plainclothes officers] are going to be mandated to attend enhanced tactical training and attend as a team,’’ too, starting next week, the source said.

Leanne Simonsen said that in the case of the officers who accidentally shot her husband, “I just feel like there should have been some suspension.

“Not a suspension for punishment, but a suspension for retraining . . . Something rather than just, ‘Oh, here’s your guns back. Get back out there.’

“They didn’t screen them in any way,’’ she claimed. “They were given their guns back, and they’re back on the street like nothing happened, and that ­really kind of bothers me.

“And nobody even told me,’’ the widow lamented. “I’ve learned from . . . Brian’s squad that that’s what happened.

“They just go on like nothing happened.’’

The NYPD source said of the officers involved in Detective Simonsen’s death: Three returned to duty May 8; one is off the street on administrative assignment, and the remaining two are on “nondisciplinary restricted duty,’’ meaning they also are off the street. One of the restricted-duty officers doesn’t have his gun.

Through it all, Leanne Simonsen said she is still dealing with her husband’s death.

“It wasn’t just one murder that night. It took my life away, too,’’ she said. “He was actually my world. Without him, I just feel like I exist.”

She said a week before her husband’s death, a neighbor told her she saw him leaving the house and asked him how he was.

“And he was like, “I’m living the dream.’ Then, he looked at her, and he said, ‘You know what, I am living the dream.’“Now, my life, like I say, I’m just try to get through each day.”

“She was like, ‘The way he said it, I was so jealous, because he was serious about it.’

NYPD spokeswoman Devora Kaye said in a statement to The Post, “Losing a police officer is a tragedy of the deepest, most painful kind.

“The Department is committed to learning every fact and drawing every appropriate lesson so we can get better at what we do, keep officers safe, and continue driving down crime.

“Police officers run towards the unknown and face dangers that can escalate unpredictably within seconds. They do so valiantly to keep New Yorkers safe and even when they are equipped with rigorous and comprehensive training, the decision of whether to use deadly force occurs within a split second and can often mean the difference between saving or losing a life.”