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Also, are there any potential downsides to collecting these notes that might raise concerns with IRCC about my situation?
No. It's a different officer from a different team who handles this. Since under the PA it's also free, there's absolutely no downside - the worst case is just that there's nothing helpful and you are at the same place you were before you ordered.
Do these notes help to get clarification in situations like mine?

Does these notes show whether an officer issued IRPA or not? Has anyone in these forums shared any input related to this.
I wasn't in this situation when I requested my notes, but what I got back was pretty detailed. I'd imagine that if there is something on file, you'd find that in here. Of course, if it's just been received by IRCC from CBSA and sitting on a desk, there might not be anything really there in the IRCC file to see.
Some friends suggested getting GCMS and CBSA Notes.
It's a good idea to get both sets of notes from CBSA and IRCC. I can't say for sure but my guess is that the CBSA notes are more likely to have what you are looking for - a confirmation that the officer did an official review and even if an A44 report was actually filed, or at least drafted. Alternatively, you might find a note explaining why they decided not to pursue. (The other thing is that IRCC can take forever, but my guess is that if CBSA was going to take some action, then they would have wrapped up their part by now.)

If it did move forward beyond CBSA, then the IRCC notes will give you a very rough, somewhat vague idea of where things currently stand. (If there's no mention in IRCC notes at all but CBSA notes has the referral, then it's sitting in IRCC's backlog and they've not seen it yet. Otherwise, there'll be some note that says what the last status was.)