Yes the vin is in fact visible on the dash. When the cop was shining his where the vin is and said "see no vin" but didn't actually allow me to get any closure to the car to actually see anything.The answer to this question might answer a few questions I have about the actions here ...
You say there was a VIN. Okay, great. But, was there a VIN plate visible on the dashboard? If that VIN plate was removed or covered, that could explain why things transpired as they did.