Looking at something is an action, and actions are recorded.
A visit is a record. Any site you open logs your address, the time, and what you asked for. On a small site, one visit from a police force's own network is conspicuous. On a site run by whoever you are looking into, it is a warning.
A profile view can be a notification. Several platforms tell people who looked at them. Others do not say so but count it.
Your account is you. Signing in to look at something ties every subsequent action to an identity. An account created for work should never be one you use for anything else.
Your equipment identifies itself. Browser fingerprints are stable enough to link separate sessions to the same machine without any cookie at all.
The practical habits that follow: use a machine and a browser profile that are for this work only; do not sign in unless the source requires it and you are permitted to; keep your own accounts entirely separate; and assume that anything you open may be noticed by whoever runs it.
None of this is about hiding wrongdoing. It is about not warning a subject, and about not putting your own name and force into somebody else's log.